T7NIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 

AT 

LOS  ANGELES 

LIBRARY 


y 


Winning  Declamations 

AND 

HOW  TO  SPEAK  THEM 


In  Two  Parts 

Part  I — For  Intermediate  and  Grammar  Grades 

Part  II — For  High  Schools  and  Colleges 


BY 

EDWIN  Dubois  shurter 

PROFESSOR  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TEXAS 


LLOYD  ADAMS  NOBLE,  Publisher 
31  West  15th  Street  New  York  City 


•4^^      4r\'^Q>c> 


Copyright,  191 7, 
LLOYD  ADAMS  NOBLE 


n  .1  c  n 


3  5^ 


PREFACE 

This  book  contains  declamations,  from  three  to 
five  minutes  in  length,  which  the  editor,  as  a  teacher 
of  public  speaking,  has  been  collecting  and  testing 
for  a  number  of  years.  Practically  every  selection 
in  this  volume  has  been  tried  out  in  class  work  and 
in  public  contests ;  hence  the  major  title  of  "Win- 
ning Declamations."  Although  some  "old  favorites" 
are  included,  a  large  proportion  of  the  prose  selec- 
tions, and  several  of  the  poems,  have  never  before 
appeared  in  a  work  of  this  character. 

The  declamations  are  intended  for  training  the 
public  speaker,  and  not  the  dramatic  reader  or  mere 
entertainer.  The  element  of  interest,  however,  has 
been  a  controlling  factor,  hence  declamations  have 
been  chosen  that  present  vivid  pictures,  concrete 
situations,  or  advocate  principles  and  policies  that 
are  of  present  moment.  In  other  words,  the  selec- 
tions are  of  such  a  character  that  a  pupil  may  adopt 
the  words  as  his  own  and  speak  them  with  the  pur- 
pose of  convincing  and  persuading  a  present-day  au- 
dience. 

The  minor  title  of  the  book  indicates  a  feature 

•  •• 

ui 


iv  Preface 

which  differentiates  this  work  from  the  ordinary 
Speaker  in  two  particulars : 

First,  there  is  an  introductory  treatise  on  delivery 
covering  the  essential  matters  pertaining  to  the 
technique  of  oral  expression  and  public  speaking. 
For  teachers  desiring  a  minimum  of  theory  and 
maximum  of  practice,  this  book  is  well  adapted  for 
use,  not  alone  as  a  reference  book  for  selections,  but 
also  as  a  text-book  for  a  beginners'  class  in  speak- 
ing, or  as  an  advanced  reading-book  for  the  seventh 
or  eighth  grades. 

Secondly,  the  declamations  are  edited  with  refer- 
ence to  the  interpretation  and  delivery.  True,  this 
sort  of  editing  may  easily  be  overdone,  since  there  is 
danger  of  losing  sight  of  the  personal  equation  as 
different  individuals  react  upon  a  given  selection; 
but  it  was  thought  that  some  general  suggestions  as 
to  interpretation  and  delivery  by  one  who  has  made 
a  special  study  of  the  selections  would  be  helpful 
to  and  welcomed  by  teachers  and  pupils.  In  some 
cases,  where  the  construction  is  simple  and  no 
special  comment  has  seemed  necessary,  none  is 
offered ;  that  is,  no  effort  has  been  made  to  explain 
the  obvious. 

The  author  desires  gratefully  to  acknowledge  his 
indebtedness  to  Professor  Raymond  G.  Bressler,  of 
the  University  of  Texas  Department  of  Extension, 
for  his  assistance  in  selecting  and  editing  the  selec- 


Preface  r 

tions,  and  also  in  the  preparation  of  the  Introduc- 
tion; to  Allyn  &  Bacon,  publishers  of  Shurter's 
Public  Speaking,  for  the  use  made  of  portions  of 
that  text  in  the  Introduction  to  the  present  volume ; 
also  to  publishers  of  copyrighted  material  designated 
in  subsequent  pages. 


CONTENTS 

INDEXED   BY   AUTHORS 
Author                                                 Title  Pate 
Alexander,  Cecil  Frances.  .All  Things  Bright  and  Beauti- 
ful     1 19 

Allison,  Joy Which  Loved  Best? 122 

Anonymous Aspirations 131 

Anonymous A  Southern  Court  Scene 97 

Anonymous The  Liberty  Bell 137 

Anonymous The  Victor  of  Marengo 94 

Bacheller,  Irving Scientific  Farming 91 

The  Little  Old  School  of    the 

Home 44 

Bailey,  Joseph  W Texas — Undivided    and     In- 
divisible     255 

Bain,  George  W Life  Lessons 88 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward Importance  of  Little  Things. .  .     52 

Squandering  the  Voice 33 

The  National  Flag 252 

The    Reign    of   the    Common 

People 2/8 — " 

Bennett,  Henry  H The  Flag  Goes  By 128 

Bigelow,  Herbert  S The  Apostle  of  a  New  Idea ...  241 

Blaine,  James  G The  Death  of  Garfield 259 

Borah,  William  E The  Haywood  Trial;  Plea  for 

the  Prosecution 239 

Boynton,  Nehemiah The  Homeland 297 

Braley,  Berton The  Thinker 175 

Browning,  Robert Pros  pice 140 

Bryan,  William  Jennings.  .Against  Militarism. . .' 2iq^ 

,  vii 


viii  Contents 

Author                                              Title  Page 

Bryan,  Guy  M The  Child  of  the  Alamo 72 

Burkett,  C.  W The  Modern  Farmer 108 

Burrill,  David  J Incentives  to  Patriotism 115 

Casement,  Roger To  Liberate  Ireland  is  not 

Treason  to  England 215 

Caxton  Magazine Nothing  to  do  but  Work 75 

What's  the  Use 273 

Chambers,  Robert  W France  at  the  Opening  of  the 

Great  War 208 

Chapman,  Arthur Where  the  West  Begins 142 

Chemnitzer,  Ivan The  Rich  Man  and  the  Poor 

Man 135 

Clark,  Esther  M The  Call  of  Kansas 146 

Cross,  L.  M Have  an  Oil  Can  Always  with 

You 41"^ 

The  Curse  of  Selfishness 100 

Curtis,  George  William. .  .  .  Fair  Play  for  Woman 224 

The     Eloquence     of     Wendell 

Phillips 235 

The  Minute  Man  of  the  Revo- 
lution    284 

The  Public  Duty  of  Educated 

Men 280 

Darrow,  Clarence  S The  Haywood  Trial;  Plea  for 

the  Defence 237 

Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence .  . .  Right's  Security 179 

Eytinge,  Louis  Victor Savannah's  Apple  of  Courage  63 

Finch,  Francis  M The  Blue  and  the  Cray 162 

Finley  John  H The  Thirtieth  Man 270 

Franklin,  Benjamin The  Way  to  Wealth 81 

French,  Virginia  L The  Palmetto  and  the  Pine .  .  .  169 

Frye,  William  P The    Protection    of  American 

Citizens 217 

Grady,  Henry  W A  Plea  for  Prohibition 66 

Love  and  Loyalty  of  the  Negro.  77 

The  Home  and  the  Republic. .  .  39 

Gregory,  Thomas  Watt .  .  .  Southern  Types 265 


>f 


Contents  ix 

Author                                                Title  Page 

Guerard,  Albert  Leon The  Dead  Hand  of  the  Past  in 

Europe 213 

Harris,  Virginia  Fisher.  . .  .  The  Cross  of  Honor 184 

Harrison,  Jake  H To  the  Man  Behind  the  Plow .  129 

Hemans,  Felicia The   Landing   of  the   Pilgrim 

Fathers 167 

Hillis,  Newell  Dwight The  Woe  of  Belgium 210 

Holland,  Josiah  Gilbert .  .  .  Gradatim 161 

Horn,  P.  W The  Different  Kinds  of  Gossip  42 

Hubbard,  Elbert A  Message  to  Garcia 250 

The  Masterpiece  of  God 293 

Hunt,  Leigh Abou  Ben-Adhem 173 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G A  Plumed  Knight 199 

Ai  the  Tomb  of  Napoleon no 

Jerome,  Jerome  K Ambition 92 

Kipling,  Rudyard // 153 

Recessional 156 

Kleberg,  M.  E Houston's  Crowning  Glory. ...  56 

Lane,  Franklin  K The  American  Spirit  Incarnate  221 

The  Making  of  our  Country's 

Flag 112 

Lee,  Fitzhugh The  Flag  of  the  Union  Forever .  54 

Leslie's  Weekly War 205 

Lieberman,  Elias I  am  an  American 50 

Lindsey,  Ben  B The    Boy    and    tfie    Juveniie 

Court 106 

Lippard,  George The  Liberty  Bell 59 

Lockhart,  Will  P A  Texas  Mockingbird 133 

Long,  L.  G The  Power  of  Ideas 287 

Longfellow,  Henry  W The  Day  is  Done 182 

Thou,  too,  Sail  Onl 188 

Lowell,  James  Russell A  Day  in  June 176 

Mackay,  Charles Song  of  Life 121 

Mansfield,  Richard The  Eagle's  Song 151 

Malloch,  Douglass The  West 143 

Martin,  William  Wesley. .  .Apple  Blossoms 159 

Meek,  Alexander  Beauiort.Land  of  the  South 144 


X  Contents 

Author  TitU  Page 

Miller,  Joaquin Columbus i8o 

For  Those  Who  Fail 134 

The  Defense  of  the  Alamo ....    189 
Mix,  Melville  W The    Individual   as   a   Power 

Plant 34 

Moses,  Bert Efficiency  and  Riches 291 

O'Reilly,  Jolin  Boyle Little  Brown  Hands 126 

Ousley,  Clarence  N .Life's  Retrospect 302 

Parker,  Theodore The  Children  of  the  Poor 103 

Peabody,  Francis  G Commercialism  and  Idealism.   276 

Phillips,  Wendell Revolutions 268 

The    Eloquence    of    Daniel 

O'Connell 232 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan Annabel  Lee 186 

Powell,  E.  P Pumpkin  Pie 70 

Prentiss,  S.  S New  England's  Fairest  Boast.     79 

Progressive  Farmer Love  Your  Farm • 68 

Purinton,  Edward  Earle. . .  The  Efficient  Optimist 247 

Rands,  W.  B The  Wonderful  World 118 

Roosevelt,  Theodore America     and     International 

Peace 201 

Root,  Elihu A  Pan-American  Policy 203 

Ross,  Edward  A What  is  a  Good  Man 274 

Ross,  Sam  Walter The  House  by  the  Side  of  the 

Road 165 

Scoville,  D.  C Truth  and  Victory 282 

Shakespeare,  William The  Power  of  Music 158 

Shaw,  Leslie  M Wealth  and  Aptitude 61 

Sheppard,  Morris Eulogy  of  Washington 226 

Smith,  William  Hawley .  .  .  The  Other  Fellow 49 

Smith,  Marion  Couthouy.  ./I  Toast 171 

Smith,  T.  F On  the  Death  of  David  Crockett  174 

Sprague,  Leslie  Willis The  Still  Undiscovered  America  289 

Springer,  John  W My  Kingdom  for  a  Horse ....     83 

The  Pioneers 263 

Stafford,  Wendell  Phillips .  Liberty  under  Law 245 

Tennyson,  Alfred Crossing  the  Bar 154 


Contents 


XI 


Author                                              Title  Page 

Thomas,  John  M The  Man  and  the  Soil 261 

Thurston,  John  Mellen. .  .  .  Shall  the  Monroe  Doctrine  be 

Abandoned? 243 

Twain,  Mark The  Coyote 86 

Van  Dyke,  Henry Texas 148 

Vest,  George  G Man's  Best  Friend — His  Dog.  85 

Vincent,  John  H The  Girl  in  the  Kitchen loi 

Waters,  N.  McGee A   Young  Man's  Religion  and 

His  Father's  Faith 295 

Wescott,  John  W The  Destiny  of  Democracy. . . .  197 

Wheeler,  Benjamin  Ide. .  . .  Christianity  and  Life 229 

Whipple,  E.  P Books 257 

White,  Emma  Gertrude .  . .  Night-Fall 193 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf .  .In  School  Days 123 

Wilcox,  Ella  Wheeler Solitude 192 

Williams,  Wilson The  Greatest  Battle  Ever  Won.  47 

Wilson,  Woodrow Education  and  Trade 37 

The  Mission  of  A  merica 300 


^' 


U 


INTRODUCTION 

HOW  TO   BECOME  A    SPEAKER 

The  keynote  of  success  in  public  speaking  is 
everlastingly  keeping  at  it.  People  may  be  born 
rich,  good  looking,  healthy,  but  they  are  not  born 
orators,  although  the  Latin  poet  said  they  were.  Just 
as  you  learn  to  walk  by  walking,  to  swim  by  swim- 
ming, so  you  learn  to  speak  in  public  by  speaking  in 
public.  The  time  when  it  is  necessary  to  argue  the 
importance  of  teaching  public  speaking  in  schools 
and  colleges  is  past.  The  platitude  that  if  you  have 
something  to  say  you  will  say  it  well,  is  losing  its 
significance  if  it  ever  had  any.  Too  many  people 
have  tried  that  plan  and  failed  to  make  tenable  any 
further  belief  in  such  a  doctrine. 

Learning  to  speak  in  public  is  very  much  like 
learning  to  swim.  You  may  become  a  past  master 
of  the  science  of  swimming  as  given  in  books,  but 
before  you  can  swim  you  must  get  into  the  water. 
Similarly  you  may  become  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  science  of  public  speaking,  but  before  you  can 
make  a  creditable  speech  you  must  speak  in  public. 
On  the  other  hand,  how  many  people  have  you 
heard  of  who  learned  to  swim  by  being  thrown  into 
the  water?  A  few,  we  will  admit,  but  generally 
these  few  acquire  hap-hazard  strokes  that  are  un- 


2  Introduction 

natural  and  difficult  to  overcome  in  subsequent  ef- 
forts to  develop  good  form  in  swimming.  Most  of 
them  thus  treated,  however,  had  to  be  fished  out 
more  dead  than  alive.  When  a  man  without  any 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  public  speaking  makes 
a  speech,  figuratively  he  is  being  thrown  heels  over 
head  into  the  audience.  Because  of  his  ignorance 
of  the  elementary  principles  of  public  speaking  he 
is  likely  to  make  such  a  complete  dunce  of  himself 
that  the  audience  both  laughs  at  and  pities  him. 
Usually  he  flounders  through  his  predicament  and 
comes  out  so  disgusted  with  himself  that  he  rarely 
tries  again. 

Some  knowledge  of  technique  and  a  vast  amount 
of  practice  are  absolutely  essential  to  ultimate  suc- 
cess as  a  public  speaker.  There  is  no  better  way 
to  secure  the  preliminary  training  than  by  means  of 
the  declamation. 

A  declamation  is  a  set  speech  of  a  more  or  less 
serious  nature  intended  for  delivery  from  memory  in 
public.  Usage  has  virtually  made  the  word  declama- 
tion to  connote  a  cutting  from  an  oration  written 
and  spoken  originally  by  some  person  other  than  the 
one  who  is  declaiming  the  selection.  It  is  impossible 
to  mark  the  exact  dividing  lines  between  an  oration, 
a  declamation,  and  a  reading.  You  cannot  place 
your  finger  on  a  geometric  line  and  say,  "This  marks 
.  the  end  of  declamation  and  the  beginning  of  read- 
ing and  beyond  this  point  is  oration."  Many  selec- 
tions lie  in  that  twilight  zone  where  characteristic 
marks  are  imaginary.  Whether  a  selection  is  a 
reading  or   a  declamation,   then,   depends  on  th/e 


Introduction  3 

manner  of  the  delivery  and  the  spirit  of  the  piece. 
Selections  that  are  chosen  for  purposes  of  mere  en- 
tertainment, "funny"  pieces,  dramatic  readings, 
dialogue,  impersonations,  etc.,  are  not  considered 
declamations.  Keep  in  mind  that  a  declamation 
should  be  prevailingly  serious  in  tone  and  delivered 
for  the  purpose  of  convincing  or  persuading  an 
audience  of  certain  ideas  or  truths. 

HINTS  ON  MEMORIZING 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  speedy  memorizing. 
Some  people  can  commit  pages  of  printed  matter 
in  a  very  short  while ;  others  must  labor  untiringly 
for  an  indefinite  length  of  time  and  still  not  suc- 
ceed in  getting  the  selection  as  well  in  hand  as  their 
more  fortunate  friends.  The  explanations  for  this 
difference  are  manifold.  It  may  be  a  question  of 
method  of  attack.  If  it  should  be,  this  can  be 
remedied.  It  may  be  a  question  of  undeveloped 
memorizing  ability.  If  it  is,  the  quicker  you  take 
the  exercise  necessary  to  strengthen  the  faculty  of 
memory  the  better  off  you  will  be.  It  may  be  a 
question  of  being  born  with  a  poor  memory.  All  that 
we  can  say  for  this  is  "hard  luck."  Psychologists 
teach  us  that  our  memories  are  birthrights  and  that 
they  cannot  be  improved.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we 
know  that  the  ability  of  the  faculty  of  memory  to* 
receive,  and  give  expression  to  impressions,  ideas, 
or  whatever  you  choose  to  call  them,  can  be  im- 
proved. For  all  practical  purposes,  this  is  an  im- 
provement of  memory,  and  will  be  so  considered  in 


4  Introduction 

the  discussion  that  follows  concerning  the  faculty 
of  memory. 

Yon  Must  Concentrate  on  Your  Subject 

Everyone  knows  that  concentration  on  work  to 
be  done  is  absolutely  necessary  to  accomplishment. 
It  is  the  fundamental  secret  of  memorizing.  The 
bald  statement  saying  that  we  must  concentrate 
on  our  task  is  the  personification  of  truth.  But, 
like  many  another  general  statement,  it  is  almost 
wholly  worthless.  Like  the  education  of  some  men, 
it  is  so  broad  that  it  is  shallow.  The  information 
that  is  most  needed  is  hozv  to  concentrate. 

Avoid  desultory  reading.  Loose,  skimming, 
rambling  reading  is  most  pernicious  in  its  effect  on 
ability  to  concentrate.  It  is  as  injurious  in  its  in- 
fluence on  the  mind  as  a  steady  diet  of  pastries  is 
to  the  body.  True,  a  great  many  selections  are  worth 
no  more  than  a  desultory  reading,  but  for  the  sake 
of  your  own  memory,  do  not  make  this  sort  of 
reading  your  three-meals-a-day.  You  must  have 
more  intensive  reading  and  less  extensive.  Slow, 
careful,  understanding  reading  of  the  selection  to 
be  memorized  is  essential. 

The  selection  must  be  of  interest  to  the  declaimer. 
In  order  to  concentrate  on  a  thing  with  a  minimum 
of  time,  you  must  be  interested  in  your  selection. 
You  yourself  are  the  judge  of  what  you  like,  al- 
though other  people  can  give  valuable  suggestions. 
The  things  in  which  you  are  interested  have  a  direct 
appeal  and  when  heard  or  seen  make  an  impression 


Introduction  5 

which  can  be  reproduced  easily.  Those  of  only 
casual  interest  make  no  impression.  They  go  in 
one  ear  and  out  the  other.  "The  New  South"  may 
appeal  to  one  boy,  "At  the  Tomb  of  Napoleon"  to 
another,  "The  Message  to  Garcia"  to  a  third.  De- 
cidedly it  would  be  unwise  for  these  various  in- 
dividuals to  exchange  selections.  Each  one,  of 
course,  could  commit  the  other  boy's  selection,  but 
it  would  require  more  effort  and  more  time.  Choose 
the  selection  that  makes  a  direct  appeal  to  you  and 
then  abandon  yourself  to  its  enjoyment.  Your 
interest  will  be  intensified  thereby  and  you  will 
cut  in  two  the  time  for  memorizing  a  given  number 
of  words. 

Good  health  is  necessary.  Concentration  on  your 
work  cannot  be  most  effective  when  the  body  is  in 
poor  physical  condition.  It  takes  a  will  of  unusual 
power  to  conceive  of  a  warm  July  day  on  a  zero 
December  morn.  It  takes  a  will  of  great  power  to 
forget  about  a  cramp  in  the  stomach.  No  will  is 
strong  enough  to  concentrate  on  two  things  at  once. 
An  attempt  to  do  so  results  in  weakened  concen- 
trative  ability.  When  a  person  with  a  physical  pain 
tries  to  memorize,  he  is  dividing  his  time  between 
his  body  and  his  mind.  He  may  accomplish  his 
task  but  it  will  be  only  with  increased  effort  on  his 
part.  Better  attack  the  problem  when  in  good  phys- 
ical condition. 

Environment.  Another  element  that  is  closely 
allied  to  the  physical  consideration  of  memorizing 
is  environment.  Unless  you  have  learned  to  work 
oblivious  of  your  surroundings  you  had  better  seek 


6  Introduction 

a  quiet  place.  Out  under  the  big  trees  of  the 
forest,  say  some  writers.  If  you  do  go  out  into 
nature,  be  sure  that  you  won't  be  influenced  by  the 
singing  birds,  the  glorious  sunshine  or  the  beautiful 
starlight.  Individuals  differ  greatly  as  to  the  en- 
vironment that  best  suits  their  peculiarities.  For 
some  people  it  is  best  to  get  on  a  hard-seated, 
straight-backed  chair  with  a  desk  in  front  of  them 
to  lean  on.  It  makes  little  difference  then  whether 
there  be  noise  or  not.  Any  unusual  noise,  of  course, 
like  the  cry  of  "Fire,"  might  detract.  The  essential 
thing  is  to  have  your  environment  conducive  to 
your  most  effective  work. 

Use  of  the  will.  After  the  last  word  has  been 
said  in  the  matter  of  concentration,  the  fact  remains 
that  the  only  way  to  concentrate  is  to  concentrate. 
You  must  will  to  do  it  and  do  it.  Keep  your  mind 
everlastingly  on  the  thing  to  be  done.  Every  time 
you  find  your  mind  wandering  off  on  a  tangent, 
stop  and  bring  yourself  back  to  your  task  with  a 
jerk.  If  you  are  reading  your  selection  and  sud- 
denly wake  up  to  the  realization  that  you  are 
''dreaming,"  go  back  to  the  beginning  and  reread 
the  whole  thing.  This  extra  work  that  you  are 
giving  your  mind  will  soon  wake  it  up.  It  is  a 
little  like  giving  a  boy  a  piece  of  work  to  do  and  if 
he  doesn't  do  it  as  you  want  it  done,  making  hit:n  do 
it  over.  Your  subject  may  become  rebellious  at 
first.  Soon  stern  fate  will  stare  you  in  the  face  and 
the  task  will  be  done  as  specified.  It  is  even  so 
with  your  mind.  Often  it  must  be  coerced,  but 
after  a  time  it  will  become  subservient  to  your  xvill. 


Introduction  7 

Your  Most  Effective  Imagery 

One  of  the  first  things  to  learn  in  our  effort  to 
memorize  rapidly  is  the  sense  which  affords  the 
most  efficient  medium  through  which  to  grasp  ideas. 
Because  of  our  pernicious  system  of  study  in  the 
public  schools,  which  demands  of  the  student  that 
he  study  silently,  the  ear  is  little  developed.  In 
numerous  instances  the  sense  of  hearing  may  be  the 
very  one  that  should  be  used.  If  you  find  that  you 
can  get  a  thing  better  by  hearing  it,  have  some  one 
read  the  selection  to  you.  Possibly  it  is  best  to  read 
it  aloud  yourself.  In  this  case  you  will  be  getting 
the  information  through  three  sources,  the  mus- 
cular, the  visual,  and  the  auditory,  and  the  chances 
for  quick  work  will  be  strengthened  thereby.  Some 
teachers  insist  that  pupils  get  their  memorized 
selections  so  thoroughly  that  they  can  see  the  exact 
position  of  the  words  on  the  page.  It  is  never  ad- 
visable to  insist  on  this,  although  when  a  piece  is 
memorized  in  this  manner,  there  is  little  possibility 
of  forgetting.  The  act  of  declaiming  then  merely 
becomes  an  act  of  reading  without  the  book. 

It  is  possible  that  the  easiest  way  for  some  to 
memorize  may  be  by  movement.  The  prevailing 
sense  may  be  muscular.  In  this  case  writing  the 
selection,  or  the  mere  act  of  pronouncing  the  words 
will  be  the  best  medium.  A  great  many  people  are 
never  certain  that  they  know  a  thing  thoroughly  un- 
til they  reproduce  it  on  paper.  The  act  of  writing  the 
memorized  words  seems  to  clinch  the  whole  thing. 

That  there  is  no  imagery  that  is  equally  good  for 


8  Introduction 

all  people  is  very  evident.  Whatever  sense  seems 
best  for  you  is  the  one  for  you  to  utilize  and  to  do 
your  repeating  in.  For  most  people  this  will  be 
the  sense  of  sight.  After  the  selection  is  mastered, 
necessarily  it  must  then  be  spoken  aloud  and  re- 
peated until  you  are  fully  capable  of  reproducing 
it  orally. 

Keep  in  View  the  Selection  as  a  Whole 

Commit  by  ideas,  sections  and  selections  and  not 
by  words,  lines  and  sentences.  Strange  as  it  seems, 
very  few  people  do  this  without  being  told.  The 
natural  tendency,  even  after  the  thought  of  the  whole 
selection  has  been  mastered,  is  to  memorize  by 
sentences.  This  is  bad  and  there  is  only  one  other 
method  of  memorizing  that  is  more  inefficient, 
namely,  to  commit  mere  words, — as  if  to  be  able 
to  repeat  the  words  in  the  selection  were  memoriz- 
ing it.  The  most  economical  use  of  time  is  made 
when  you  memorize  in  large  sections.  Memorize  by 
thoughts  first,  not  words.  After  the  ideas  are  your 
own,  the  words  will  come  rapidly.  In  many  in- 
stances the  selections  in  this  book  can  be  committed 
in  their  entirety. 

A  wise  farmer  is  he  who  learns  not  to  drive  the 
whole  way  either  to  or  from  the  field  with  an  empty 
wagon.  It  is  a  wise  plowman  who  learns  the  econ- 
omy of  labor  and  time  that  results  in  plowing  large 
fields.  There  is  always  economy  of  time  in  doing 
work  in  large  sections.  Piddling  is  a  squanderer 
of  time;  but  that  is  just  what  you  are  doing  when 


Introduction  9 

you  memorize  by  lines  or  sentences.  The  least  that 
ever  should  be  considered  is  the  paragraph  or 
stanza. 

Suppose  Tennyson's  "Song  of  the  Brook"  were 
to  be  memorized.  The  average  person  will  read  the 
first  stanza  several  times  and  then  close  his  book 
to  see  if  he  knows  it.  If  he  can  repeat  the  words 
he  goes  to  the  second  stanza  and  gets  these  words. 
Then  he  repeats  the  first  and  second  and  proceeds 
to  the  third.  He  has  no  trouble  with  this  stanza.  In 
the  interval,  though,  what  has  become  of  the  other 
two  stanzas?  Gone!  He  will  have  to  look  in  his 
book  to  see  what  they  are.  Then  he  couples  all 
three,  adds  the  fourth,  and  attempts  to  give  all 
four;  fails,  looks  in  his  book,  adds  the  fifth,  goes 
back  to  the  beginning  and  tries  to  give  all  again. 
By  this  time  the  first  stanza  and  perhaps  the  second, 
by  sheer  reason  of  repetition,  can  be  repeated  ver- 
batim. This  process  of  going  back  to  the  beginning 
after  each  stanza  is  learned,  and  repeating  every- 
thing up  to  that  point,  just  to  see  if  you  know  it, 
is  continued  up  to  the  end  of  the  poem.  Pieces  may 
be  memorized  by  this  method,  but  the  waste  of  time 
and  energy  is  appalling.  It  is  as  if  you  should  be 
plowing  a  new  piece  of  land  and  began  your  work 
each  morning,  not  where  you  quit  the  previous  night, 
but  where  you  first  started.  The  soil  in  that  part 
of  the  field  would  become  as  friable  as  soil  that  had 
been  tilled  for  decades.  But  there  would  be  a 
gradual  gradation  from  this  thoroughly  pulverized 
soil  to  a  soil  that  was  very  unfriable.  Surely  this 
is  not  a  desirable  condition  to  have  in  any  field. 


lo  Introduction 

The  memorizing  of  a  selection  by  this  nibble-and- 
repeat  method  puts  your  impression  of  it  in  the 
same  condition  as  the  new  land.  The  first  part  is 
so  familiar  that  you  can  say  it  in  your  sleep;  the 
last  part  can  barely  be  recalled.  Intervening  are  all 
sorts  of  snags  that  turn  up  in  the  process  of 
delivery.  One  of  the  fundamental  causes  of  pupils 
forgetting  their  selections  at  the  public  celebration 
is  this  faulty  process  of  committing. 

Repetition 

After  the  selection  has  been  memorized  there 
must  be  much  repetition.  No  one  should  attempt 
to  give  in  public  a  selection  that  he  had  not  repeated 
many  times  in  private.  It  is  only  through  constant 
repetition  that  the  words  finally  become  yours.  The 
ideas,  if  you  are  wise,  are  mastered  long  before 
you  attempt  to  get  the  exact  words.  Always  keep 
in  mind  that  it  is  the  ideas,  and  not  the  mere  words, 
which  you  are  to  impress  first  upon  your  own  mind, 
and  finally  upon  the  minds  of  your  hearers.  But 
words  are  the  medium  for  expressing  the  ideas, 
and  in  your  efiforts  to  get  the  exact  words  of  the 
authors,  there  is  nothing  more  important  than 
repetition, 

ENUNCIATION 

Although  words,  as  we  have  just  seen,  are  only 
signs  of  ideas,  yet  the  words  as  such  must  be  pro- 
nounced correctly  and  clearly.  Otherwise  you  will 
not  be  understood.     In  preparing  a  selection  for 


Introduction  II 

delivery,  therefore,  attention  must  be  given  to  cor- 
rectness and  clearness  in  utterance.  Enunciation 
includes  (i)  pronunciation,  or  correctness  as  to 
vowel  sounds  and  accent,  and  (2)  articulation,  or 
distinctness  in  bringing  out  the  consonants  and  in 
separating  the  words. 

As  to  pronunciation,  be  sure  that  you  know  the 
correct  sound  for  each  word  in  your  speech.  In 
case  of  the  slightest  doubt,  consult  the  dictionary. 
Don't  guess  at  pronunciations,  or  be  content  to 
repeat  wrong  sounds  that  you  have  heard  others 
give.  Remember  that  pronunciation  is  simply  the 
practice  of  the  best  speakers  of  our  language,  and 
you  should  not  be  content  with  anything  short  of 
the  best. 

The  need  of  a  clear-cut  articulation  is  apparent, 
yet  in  actual  practice  indistinctness  is  a  very  com- 
mon fault.  For  the  purpose  of  making  yourself 
heard,  distinctness  is  far  more  important  than  mere 
loudness.  And  the  speaker  should  remember  this: 
that  some  slight  indistinctness  in  ordinary  conver- 
sation becomes  absolutely  inaudible  to  an  audience. 
That  is,  the  public  speaker  must  exaggerate  the 
articulation  of  his  words  in  order  to  have  the  dis- 
tinct sounds  reach  his  hearers.  So  do  not  mumble 
or  "mouth"  your  words,  or  run  them  in  together, 
but  enunciate  correctly  and  clearly  the  diflferent 
sounds  in  each  word  and  separate  the  words  dis- 
tinctly. As  we  have  said,  this  is  a  fundamental 
requirement.  Having  mastered  the  art  of  enuncia- 
tion, you  are  then  ready  to  apply  other  elements  of 
effective  speaking. 


12  Introduction 


DOMINANT  KEY  IN  SPEAKING 

Key  is  the  predominating  pitch  or  tone  in  which 
one    speaks.      This   might   be   differentiated    from 
other  tones  that  he  can  use  by  calhng  this  one  his 
major  key  and  the  others  his  minor  keys.     If  a 
piece  of  music,  in  which  minor  chords  predominate, 
be  played  before  an  average  audience,  most  people 
will  say  that  it  is  good,  they  suppose,  but  that  it 
is  too  deep  for  them.     Some  few  who  are  more 
daring  than  the  rest  will  intimate  that  the  instru- 
ment  is   out  of   tune.      But   if   the   piece   that   is 
being  played  be  written  B  flat  major,  a  minor  chord 
is    struck    and    held    for    a    measure,    behold    the 
crowd  then.     Note  the  applause  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  piece!     A  selection  that  was  being  calmly 
enjoyed  by  all   suddenly  became  the  C  major  of 
the  whole  performance.     Why?     Because  that  one 
minor   chord   came   at   the   psychological   moment, 
when  the  whole  audience  was  being  soothed  and 
lulled  by  tones  musical  to  the  untrained  ear.     It 
was  like  the  sound  of  a  siren  on  Broadway.     But 
what  was  the  effect  when  minor  chords  were  pre- 
dominant?    You  already  have  the  answer.     What 
will  be  the  outcome  of  a  declamation  that  is  de- 
livered  in   a   man's   minor   key?     The   answer   is 
self-evident.     One  thing  is  certain:  you  will  not 
take    first   place   in   the   contest.     You   can't   use 
minors  and  expect  major  results. 

The  average  key.     The  compass  of  the  voice  is 
the   range  between  its  highest  and  lowest  limits. 


Introduction  1 3 

The  range  of  the  average  man's  voice  is  a  little 
more  than  an  octave.  Somewhere  about  the  middle 
of  this  range  is  found  the  dominant  or  average 
key.  It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  habitual  tone  of 
the  voice  is  the  natural  tone.  Indeed,  many  people 
speak  either  too  high  or  too  low.  Both  are  bad 
and  must  be  remedied  if  much  public  speaking  is 
done. 

Ease,  variety,  and  strength  depend  on  using  the 
average  pitch  of  the  voice.  You  then  have  tones 
above  and  below,  which  you  can  sound  when  nec- 
essary. Do  not  assume  that  you  ought  to  speak 
in  a  bass  voice  because  some  orator  that  you  may 
have  heard'  used  heavy  low  tones.  Physiological 
conditions  may  have  determined  that  your  key  is 
to  be  found  on  the  tenor  clef.  If  you  use  low 
tones  then,  your  voice  will  be  strained  and  lack 
power.  Most  of  the  world's  great  orators  have 
had  baritone  voices,  voices  that  are  neither  high  nor 
low.  They  represent  the  average  or  middle  register 
of  the  human  gamut  and  are  the  tones  that  are 
most  pleasing  in  the  human  voice.  The  average 
key  must  not  be  considered  as  literally  the  exact 
mean  between  the  two  extremes.  This  is  a  mono- 
tone and  its  continued  use  will  damn  your  speak- 
ing. It  means  this  tone,  and  the  easy  flexible  vari- 
ations, though  slight,  that  accompany  it  in  speaking. 
No  instrument,  least  of  all  the  voice,  can  be  played 
in  a  single  key.  There  must  be  variety.  Variation 
is  restful  to  both  speaker  and  hearer.  It  is 
pleasure-giving.  Those  whom  you  would  influence 
you  must  first  please,  and  those  whom  you  would 


14  Introduction 

please  you  must  not  madden  with  a  monotonous 
delivery. 

Adaptation  of  the  voice  to  the  room.  Every 
room  has  a  key  of  its  own ;  that  is,  has  power  of 
augmenting  some  sounds  and  confusing  others, 
dependent  upon  the  size  of  the  room  and  its 
acoustic  properties  generally.  The  experienced 
speaker  learns  to  detect  and  to  adopt  his  key  to  the 
particular  auditorium  in  which  he  speaks.  He  has 
plenty  of  time  to  do  this  too,  for  his  speech  is 
generally  an  hour  long  and  the  first  five  minutes 
may  be  taken  to  get  his  correct  bearings.  For 
the  declaimer  who  has  only  five  or  ten  minutes,  the 
problem  is  altogether  different.  If  possible,  he 
should  rehearse  his  selection,  at  least  once,  in  the 
room  in  which  it  is  to  be  given.  When  this  can- 
not be  done,  he  will  have  to  gauge  his  key  and 
volume  by  his  experience  in  other  rooms  and  then 
listen  and  look  for  the  effect.  If  you  see  people 
in  the  back  of  the  room  turning  one  ear  to  you 
and  wrinkling  their  faces,  speak  louder;  if  you  hear 
your  words  strike  glancing  blows  on  the  walls  of  the 
room,  speak  more  slowly  and  with  less  volume;  if 
you  hear  your  voice  growing  thinner  as  it  goes  out 
over  the  audience,  and  notice  some  people  raise 
their  eyebrows,  use  a  lower  tone.  Especially  avoid, 
when  speaking  to  a  large  crowd,  the  high  con- 
strained pitch.  This  soon  becomes  painful  to  the 
hearers  and  the  speaker.  Be  sure  to  start  on  your 
natural  key;  even  a  lower  key  is  not  objectionable. 
It  is  much  easier  to  go  up  than  to  come  down. 
Besides,  it  takes  five  or  ten  minutes  to  discover 


Introduction  15 

that  you  are  speaking  too  high  and  by  that  time 
your  declamation  will  have  been  finished. 


EMPHASIS 

Emphasis  is  closely  interwoven  with  the  other 
essentials  of  public  speaking.  It  is  the 'art  of 
giving  to  each  word  its  due  importance,  and  con- 
sists of  any  means  that  the  speaker  may  employ 
whereby  particular  attention  is  called  to  words  of 
special  significance.  This  may  be  done  by  speak- 
ing the  words  louder  or  softer,  higher  or  lower, 
pausing  before  or  after,  or  both,  lengthening  the 
sound,  increasing  or  decreasing  the  movement, 
changing  the  quality  of  the  voice,  in  short  any 
variation  of  any  kind  that  will  attract  attention. 
The  fundamental,  the  basic  idea  underlying  all 
emphasis  is  variatioo.  It  must  be  different  from 
the  ordinary,  the  common  run.  A  white  woman 
walking  up  the  street  with  a  white  man  causes 
only  a  casual  glance  from  the  passers-by.  But 
a  white  woman  walking  up  the  street  with  -i  black 
man  attracts  attention.  It  is  exceptional.  It  is 
variation.  It  is  to  the  work-a-day  world  just  what 
emphasis  is  to  the  common  delivery  of  a  declama- 
tion. 

Basis  of  good  emphasis.  Like  all  other  elements 
of  expression,  this  matter  of  emphasis  is  the 
double  work  of  mind  and  voice.  You  cannot  em- 
phasize a  word  unless  the  mind  first  perceives  its 
importance  for  the  purpose  of  the  thought-expres- 
sion.   The  primary  requisite,  then,  is  a  vivid,  vigor- 


1 6  Introduction 

ous  mental  concept;  the  rest  is  to  have  the  voice 
give  expression  to  that  concept. 

Stress.  The  most  common  method  of  emphasiz- 
ing a  word  is  by  a  relatively  strong  accent  or 
stress.  The  Century  dictionary  defines  "emphasis" 
as  "a  special  stress  of  the  voice  given  to  the  ut- 
terance of  a  word."  If  this  were  all  there  is  to 
emphasis,  the  person  who  thunders  out  all-im- 
portant words  would  be  a  good  speaker.  Em- 
phasis is  more  than  mere  accent.  It  is  uncovering 
the  idea  most  effectively.  If  by  stress  you  accom- 
plish this,  then  you  emphasize  well.  But  stress 
and  stress  alone  will  not  suffice. 

"That  voice  all  modes  of  passion  can  express 
Which  marks  the  proper  word   with  proper  stress ; 
But  none  emphatic  can  that  speaker  call 
Who  lays  an  equal  emphasis  on  all." 

Very  often  the  most  effective  way  to  emphasize  is 
to  speak  an  important  idea  in  a  greatly  reduced 
tone,  particularly  after  you  have  been  emphasizing 
by  the  stress.  The  contrast  will  get  results.  Vari- 
ation, the  bed-rock  principle  of  emphasis,  will 
have  been  introduced. 

Pitch.  Pitch  is  the  relative  position  of  a  vocal 
tone.  It  is  here  used  as  synonymous  with  inflec- 
tion. The  general  rule  is,  that  when  the  thought 
is  incomplete  at  a  given  pause,  the  voice  should 
rise;  and  when  the  thought  is  complete,  the  voice 
should  fall  in  pitch.  But  aside  from  this  general 
rule,  the  inflections  of  the  voice,  in  natural  and 
effective  speaking,  are  infinite.  It  is  natural  in 
conversation  and  in  public  speaking  to  change  the 


Introduction  17 

pitch  of  successive  syllables,  words,  or  word 
groups.  Listen  to  the  voice  of  a  child  as  it  talks. 
The  tones  run  up  and  down  the  range  of  the  voice 
in  perfect  harmony  with  the  change  of  thought. 
Then  listen  to  the  same  child  reading  its  lesson. 
What  do  you  hear?  The  dull,  lifeless,  monotonous 
repetition  of  the  artificial  sounds  that  he  acquired 
from  the  one  who  first  taught  him  to  read.  The 
change  of  pitch  which  becomes  a  stumbling  block 
for  the  child  reader  is  the  same  offender  in  giving 
declamations.  When  you  converse  in  the  family 
circle,  you  speak  pleasantly;  when  you  converse  in 
an  auditorium  you  speak  wretchedly. 

Pause.  One  of  the  most  forceful  and  efifective 
methods  of  bringing  out  the  idea  is  by  the  use  of 
the  pause.  In  conversation  one  naturally  makes 
a  pause  before  saying  something  important,  and 
then  waits  for  it  to  "to  soak  in."  The  same 
principle  must  be  carried  into  your  declamation 
work.  Without  practice  the  declaimer  is  prone  to 
forget  all  about  the  natural  way  a  person  might 
emphasize  the  ideas  of  the  selection.  Notice 
how  effectively  the  pause  is  used  in  the  following 
sentences : 

(a)  A  thing  of  beauty — is  a  joy  forever. 

(b)  Man — dies;  the  nation — lives. 

(c)  The  one  rule  for  attaining  perfection  in  any 
art  is — practice. 

(d)  In  tliis — God's  world — dost  thou  think  there 
is  no  justice? 

(e)  To  speak  distinctly — is  to  speak  well. 


i8  Introduction 

({)  The  days  of  pompous  eloquence — are  gone 
by. 

Time.  To  take  approximately  the  same  time  in 
speaking  each  word,  whether  important  or  unim- 
portant, is  to  show  an  utter  lack  of  discrimination. 
More  time  should  be  taken  to  utter  the  words  that 
carry  the  principal  idea ;  expand — dwell  upon — 
the  important  words.  Read  Lincoln's  Gettys- 
burg Speech  and  note  how  the  element  of  time 
enters  into  the  proper  development  of  the  ideas. 

Movement.  The  rate  of  speed  with  which  a 
series  of  words  or  sentences  is  uttered  is  move- 
ment; while  time  is  the  relative  prolongation  of 
a  single  word.  The  rate  of  movement  of  a  selec- 
tion depends  upon  the  sentiment  to  be  expressed. 
If  lively,  excited,  joyous,  or  impulsive,  it  should 
be  rapid;  if  sad,  solemn,  important  or  ponderous, 
it  should  be  slow ;  if  natural  poise  or  state  of 
mind  be  undisturbed,  a  moderate  rate  of  movement 
will  be  appropriate.  The  larger  the  auditorium 
the  slower  the  movement,  of  course.  The  numer- 
ous handicaps  that  one  finds  in  a  large  room  must 
be  taken  into  account. 

Quality  of  the  voice.  The  character  or  quality 
of  the  tones,  the  purity  or  impurity  of  the  voice, 
cannot  be  overestimated.  "A  good  voice  has  a 
charm  in  speech  as  in  song;  oftentimes  of  itself 
enchains  attention."  A  clear,  resonant,  musical 
voice  is  surely  an  enviable  possession.  If  you  hare 
not  such  a  voice,  it  behooves  you  to  take  steps  to- 
ward making  it  such.    Will  to  have  a  stronger,  more 


Introduction  19 

manageable  and  pleasing  voice,  and  you  will  have 
gone  a  long  way  toward  acquiring  such  a  voice. 
Then  supplement  your  act  of  the  zt'ill  by  systematic 
practice  of  some  simple  directions  that  are  given 
in  standard  texts  on  public  speaking  for  overcom- 
ing faults  of  voice. 

The  quality  of  tone  used  indicates  the  condition 
of  mind  and  body.  In  all  declamation  work  the 
spirit  of  the  selection  should  engulf  you  completely. 
Then  there  should  be  little  difficulty  in  getting  the 
proper  quality  of  voice. 

Rules  of  emphasis.  The  paramount  rule  to  be 
observed  in  emphasis  is:  Read  or  speak  as  you 
would  talk.  Unfortunately,  this  rule  is  only  occa- 
sionally observed.  The  following  rules  may  be 
helpful  in  correcting  common  faults : 

1.  The  key-word  of  a  sentence  should  be  dis- 
covered and  emphasized. 

2.  Subordinate  the  modifying  or  qualifying 
words,  phrases  or  clauses. 

3.  Ideas  compared  or  contrasted  should  be  em- 
phasized. 

4.  Words  once  emphasized  should  not  be  em- 
phasized again  unless  repeated  for  the  purpose  of 
emphasis. 

5.  In  a  repetition  of  words,  phrases,  or  clauses, 
in  similar  construction,   seek  variety  in  emphasis. 

6.  Distinguish  between  emphasis  of  a  single 
word  and  that  which  should  be  distributed  to  the 
whole  of  a  phrase  or  clause.  That  is,  avoid  the 
sing-song  or  "orational"  style. 


20  Introduction 

PHYSICAL  EXPRESSION 

Thus  far  we  have  been  treating  of  the  voice  as 
a  medium  of  expression,  but  one  also  speaks  with 
the  body.  If  this  were  not  so,  a  speaker  might 
just  as  well  address  his  audience  from  behind  a 
screen.  In  describing  O'Connell's  eloquence  the 
poet  says  that  "his  pure  and  eloquent  blood  spoke 
in  his  cheek,  and  so  distinctly  wrought  that  one 
might  almost  say  his  body  thought." 

Every  declaimer,  every  speaker,  must  always  re- 
member that  he  is  speaking  from  the  time  he  rises 
from  his  seat  until  he  has  again  returned  to  it.  His 
approach  to  the  audience,  his  position  before  the 
audience,  his  attitude  toward  the  audience,  his  fa- 
cial expression,  his  gestures,  his  physical  earnest- 
ness, all  have  a  very  important  bearing  on  his 
effectiveness  as  a  speaker. 

Approach  to  Audience 

When  a  boy  is  introduced  by  the  presiding  officer, 
he  should  rise  promptly,  address  the  chairman, 
walk  firmly  toward  the  ■  front  of  the  stage,  ad- 
dress his  audience,  and  begin  his  selection.  All 
the  time  that  is  required  should  be  taken,  but  not 
more  than  is  required.  A  hurried,  quick,  jerky 
beginning  indicates  nervousness.  A  slow,  loose- 
jointed,  slouchy  beginning  indicates  laziness  and 
uncertainty,  and  has  a  most  unfortunate  effect  on 
the  crowd.  Walk  as  if  you  were  not  afraid;  but 
do  not  walk  as  if  you  were  cock-sure  of  yourself, 


Introduction  21 

daring  the  whole  crowd  to  meet  you.  A  swagger- 
ing, undignified,  spiritless  carriage  shows  that  the 
boy  has  not  keyed  himself  up  to  the  business  in 
hand.  Above  all,  keep  your  mind  on  what  you 
are  doing,  not  on  what  you  are  going  to  do,  and 
do  not  let  any  side  attraction  carry  your  thoughts 
away. 

Position  before  Audience 


There  is  no  position  before  the  audience  that 
can  be  assumed  with  military  precision.  In  train- 
ing a  company  of  soldiers,  it  is  very  easy  for  the 
captain  to  say  to  his  men,  "Heels  together,  heads 
up,  eyes  front,"  and  have  every  man  take  the  posi- 
tion com.manded.  If  in  your  declamation  work 
you  affect  what  is  considered  by  the  great  public 
speakers  a  correct  position,  you  are  more  than 
likely  to  have  a  stiff,  awkward,  mechanical  pose. 
No  suggestions  concerning  the  proper  pose  of  a 
speaker  should  be  interpreted  literally.  Season  the 
directions  that  follow  with  your  own  discretion 
and  they  will  serve  you  well. 

In  general  your  posititDn  should  be  such  that 
your  weight  will  rest  slightly  on  one  foot,  with 
the  other  foot  a  little  in  front.  The  distance 
apart  your  feet  should  be,  depends  directly  on 
your  size.  If  you  are  of  the  "Slim  Jim"  type, 
then  a  wide  base  will  be  altogether  ridiculous.  If 
you  have  a  Falstaffian  figure,  a  wide  base  is  neces- 
sary. Use  your  own  common  sense,  and  try  to 
stand  in  an  easy,  natural  poise.    Face  the  audience 


22  Introduction 

squarely.  Don't  move  too  much,  and  don't  hold 
the  same  position  too  long.  Let  your  stage  walk- 
ing occur  when  nothing  very  important  is  being 
said,  or  between  paragraphs  of  your  declamation. 
!Move  about  gracefully,  never  stealthily.  Work 
your  way  toward  the  front  of  the  stage  diagonally, 
rarely  straightforward.  Do  not  rise  on  your  toes 
or  heels.  Do  not  hold  your  arms  stiff  or  bent,  or 
your  elbows  akimbo.  Generally  you  should  begin 
your  declamation  with  your  arms  hanging  easily 
by  the  side  of  your  body.  Never  put  your  hands 
in  your  pockets  or  clench  your  fists  or  make  your 
fingers  rigid.  These  things  indicate  nervousness 
and  lack  of  mental  and  physical  control.  You  must 
not  think  of  your  arms  and  legs.  All  that  think- 
ing should  have  been  done  long  before  you  ever  get 
to  the  final  contest.  It  is  too  late  then  to  think 
seriously  about  your  physical  appearance.  By  that 
time,  if  you  have  not  solved  the  problem  of  your 
physical  bearing,  you  are  in  a  "parlous  state"  in- 
deed. 

Attitude  toward  Audience 


A  boy's  attitude  toward  the  audience  determines 
very  often  the  decision  of  the  judges.  If  he  be 
flippant,  indifferent,  undignified  or  funny,  most 
judges  will  be  antagonized.  They  will  say  to  them- 
selves that  if  he  has  no  more  respect  than  that  for 
his  audience,  he  does  not  deserve  to  win.  If  he 
wants  to  make  the  best  impression,  he  must  be  sym- 
pathetic, keep  his  audience  in  view,  and  speak  to  the 
whole  crowd.    A  boy  who  is  spiritless  or  elocution- 


Introduction  23 

ary,  or  who  flirts  with  individuals  in  the  audience, 
will  lose  control  of  his  auditors.  Affectation,  surli- 
ness, indifference,  lack  of  dignity,  all  are  cardinal 
sins  of  the  public  speaker. 

Facial  Expression 

"The  eyes  reveal  the  soul,  the  mouth  the  flesh,  the 
chin  stands  for  purpose,  the  nose  means  will.  But 
over  and  behind  all  is  the  fleeting  something  we  call 
'expression.'  This  something  is  not  set  or  fixed ;  it 
is  fluid  as  the  ether,  changeful  as  the  clouds  that 
move  in  mysterious  majesty  across  the  surface  of 
a  summer  sky,  subtle  as  the  sob  of  rustling  leaves, 
— too  faint  at  times  for  human  ears, — elusive  as  the 
ripples  that  play  hide  and  seek  over  the  bosom  of 
the  olacid  lake." 

It  is  that  "fleeting  Something  we  call  'expres- 
sion' "  in  its  final  analysis  which  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  all  public  speaking.  Your  passion,  your  feelings, 
your  emotions,  are  pictured  on  your  countenance. 
If  there  are  no  pictures  there,  the  audience  will 
have  a  slim  chance  of  listening  to  a  reputable  decla- 
mation from  you.  No  audience  will  respond  to  a 
passive,  lifeless,  "skim-milk"  expression.  Put  life 
into  your  eyes,  but  do  not  let  them  play  hide  and 
seek  with  your  eyebrows.  Do  not  gaze  at  the  floor, 
or  the  ceiling,  or  the  walls.  Look  the  audience 
squarely  in  the  face.  Don't  make  faces  or  twist  your 
mouth  in  fifty  different  shapes  and  ways.  Many  a 
man  has  been  flattered  to  believe  that  what  he  said 
causp<^  the  crowd  to  laugh,  when  it  was  just  the 


24  Introduction 

ugly  face  that  he  made  that  caused  the  laughter. 
Don't  bob  your  head  up  and  down  like  a  jumping- 
jack ;  neither  should  you  hold  it  too  stiff  nor  in  one 
position  all  the  time.  In  passing,  don't  do  any- 
thing with  your  face  or  head  that  will  attract 
undue  attention.  If  you  want  to  see  what  your 
face  looks  like  while  you  are  declaiming,  practise 
before  a  mirror. 

Gestures 


Reference  is  now  made  to  gesture  In  its  nar- 
rower sense,  the  use  of  the  arms  and  the  hands 
as  an  aid  in  emphasizing  or  suggesting  the  thought. 
More  nonsense  has  been  written  about  gesture  in 
manuals  of  elocution  than  about  any  other  one 
thing  connected  with  delivery,  and  yet  the  problem 
remains. 

Used  sparingly  and  effectively,  gestures  are  a 
powerful  aid  to  public  speaking.  Any  live  speaker 
feels  an  impulse  at  times  to  use  his  arms  and  hands 
and  the  problem  is  to  see  that  these  movements 
work  themselves  out  along  graceful  and  effective 
lines.  The  first  effort  of  the  student  usually  needs 
to  be  directed  towards  limbering  up  his  arms  and 
body,  avoiding  all  rigidity,  and  cultivating  the 
passive  and  elastic  state. 

In  general,  gestures  should  be  made  from  the 
chest  as  a  center.  The  impulse  should  go  from  the 
speaker  out  through  the  upper  arm,  forearm,  wrist, 
and  hand  to  the  audience.  The  arm  itself  in  al- 
most any  gesture  is  slightly  curved,  more  so  of 
course  in  suggestive  gestures  than  in  strongly  em- 


Introduction 


25 


phatic  ones.  Gestures  being  a  sign  language,  it 
should  precede  vocal  description.  Since  the  em- 
phatic gesture  simply  supplements  the  vocal  em- 
phasis, it  is  given  simultaneously  with  vocal  utter- 
ance. For  the  purpose  of  the  public  speaker,  as 
distinguished  from  the  actor  or  the  dramatic  reader, 
the  direct  emphatic  gesture  should  chiefly  be  used. 
Avoid  gesturing  at  the  beginning  or  at  the  very 
close  of  a  speech.  Do  not  gesture  to  yourself  or 
towards  yourself,  that  is,  strike  attitudes  with  your 
hands  clasped,  or  hand  on  heart,  etc.  Avoid  see- 
.saw  gestures,  that  is,  beginning  a  gesture  with  one 
hand  and  then  bringing  in  the  other  or  z'ice  versa. 
Don't  use  too  many  gestures.  This  is  worse  than 
none  at  all.  In  fact,  certain  selections  require  very 
few  or  no  gestures.  But  whether  gesturing  or  not, 
don't  stick  your  thumbs  and  fingers  out  as  if  they 
were  sticks.  Neither  should  you  close  them  as  if 
they  were  glued  to  your  palms.  Finally,  do  not 
gesture  without  an  impulse  to  gesture.  After  all, 
this  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter.  At- 
tempting to  put  on  gesture  from  the  outside  has 
lost  many  more  declamatory  contests  than  it  ever 
won.  Taboo  the  gesture  that  you  cannot  feel.  If 
you  feel  like  making  a  gesture,  make  it.  Then 
criticise  yourself  and  get  other  people  to  criticise 
you.  But  don't  let  gesture  be  thrust  upon  you. 
Remember  that  artificial,  mechanical  gestures  are 
far  worse  than  none  at  all. 


26  Introduction 

Physical  Earnestness 

By  physical  earnestness  is  meant  having  the  body 
awake.  It  is  the  quality  referred  to  by  Webster 
when  he  speaks  of  "the  high  purpose,  the  firm  re- 
solve, the  dauntless  spirit,  speaking  on  the  tongue, 
beaming  from  the  eye,  informing  every  feature,  and 
urging  the  whole  man  onward,  right  onward  to  his 
object."  To  be  thus  urged  onward,  the  whole  man 
wide  awake,  is  an  element,  or  an  accompaniment,  of 
eilfective  speaking.  Mental  and  emotional  states,  we 
know,  react  upon  the  physical,  and  vice  versa.  It 
is  a  contradiction  in  nature  for  one  to  be  mentally 
and  emotionally  awake  and  physically  asleep,  yet 
with  speakers  such  is  often  the  case.  Remember  that 
you  must  not  only  be  in  earnest,  but  that  your 
earnestness  must  be  apparent  to  your  audience. 

STAGE-FRIGHT 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  diagnose  that  common 
malady  known  as  stage- fright.  Usually  it  afHicts 
the  speaker  during  the  first  few  seconds,  or  first 
few  minutes,  of  his  speech.  Most  speakers  have 
it,  in  varying  degrees.  Preachers  tell  us,  for  exam- 
ple, that  even  after  long  experience,  they  never 
begin  their  weekly  sermons  without  the  most  intense 
nervousness.  Daniel  Webster  was  so  nervous  in 
his  first  effort  at  speaking  that  he  had  to  take  his 
seat  without  finishing.  Gladstone  said  that  he  was 
often  troubled  with  self -consciousness  in  the  begin- 
ning of  an  address. 


Introduction  27 

An  amusing  feature  of  this  matter  is,  that  young 
speakers  are  apt  to  think  that  they  are  the  only 
ones  that  become  seriously  embarrassed.  And 
right  here  is  the  lesson :  trained  speakers  learn  to 
control  their  embarrassment.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  a  nervous  tension,  if  brought  under  con- 
trol, may  prove  a  help  rather  than  a  hindrance  to 
the  speaker,  for  it  puts  a  nerve-force  into  his 
delivery  that  might  otherwise  be  wanting.  How 
attain  that  control?  There  is  no  way  but  through 
practice  in  speaking  to  audiences.  Continued  prac- 
tice, if  it  does  not  eliminate  all  embarrassment, 
gradually  does  reduce  the  earlier  terrors.  The 
practice  should,  of  course,  be  directed  along  right 
lines.  Nervousness  may  be  aided  much  by  a  feel- 
ing of  mental  and  physical  preparedness.  Have  the 
speech  thoroughly  in  hand  long  enough  beforehand 
to  give  both  mind  and  body  a  rest.  Students  often 
make  the  mistake  of  worrying  over  a  speech  up 
to  the  very  moment  of  its  delivery.  This  method  is 
suicidal.  Even  speakers  of  experience  sometimes 
fail  to  realize  how  much  the  success  or  failure  of 
a  speech  depends  upon  physical  conditions.  To 
undergo  the  severe  nervous  strain  of  public  speak- 
ing, mind  and  body  should  be  fresh.  The  day  pre- 
ceding an  athletic  event  the  trained  contestant  either 
rests  or  exercises  very  moderately.  So,  if  a  speech 
is  to  be  given  at  night,  say,  the  speaker  should 
wholly  lay  it  aside  during  the  afternoon  and  go  for 
a  walk  or  go  to  sleep — do  anything  but  exhaust 
faculties  that  will  be  needed  in  the  evening. 

Control  is  also  effected  through  the  communica- 


28  Introduction 

tive,  conversational  attitude,  as  one  rises  to  speak, 
and  by  an  exercise  of  the  will.  Again,  self-confi- 
dence should  be  cultivated.  Self-fear  is  quite  as 
often  a  cause  of  stage- fright  as  is  a  fear  of  the  audi- 
ence. Encourage  a  feeling  that  you  and  your 
audience  are  getting  on  well  together.  Self-confi- 
dence is  not  undue  conceit,  or  "brag,  brass,  and 
bluster";  it  is  having  the  courage  of  one's  convic- 
tions. It  is  that  self-reliance  which  enables  one  to 
rise  to  the  occasion.  It  is  that  confidence  which 
leads  the  speaker  to  say  to  himself,  "I  know  what 
I  want  to  say,  and  I  am  able  to  say  it." 

STYLE  OF  DELIVERY 

As  to  manner  of  delivery,  the  one  capital  rule  is : 
Be  natural.  That  is,  speak  to  your  audience  as  you 
would  talk  to  an  individual.  Of  course,  in  public 
speaking  the  voice  must  be  given  more  force  and 
carrying  power  than  in  ordinary  conversation,  in 
order  to  make  itself  heard  and  felt  by  an  audience. 
But  fundamentally  the  best  style  of  delivery  is 
earnest,  heightened  conversation;  it  is  "the  con- 
versational raised  to  its  highest  power";  it  is  that 
manner  of  delivery  wherein  the  speaker's  in- 
dividuality speaks  along  with  his  words.  Never 
imitate  another's  style  of  delivery.  This  may  be  an 
excellent  style  for  another,  but  never  for  you.  In 
short,  "Be  natural,"  and  make  your  delivery  simply 
direct,  strong  talk. 

Finally,  as  was  said  at  the  outset,  success  in 
public   speaking  comes    from   "everlastingly  keep- 


I  tit  ro  due  Hon  29 

ing  at  it."  Practice  is  the  main  thinr.  So  practice 
faithfully  on  the  elements  of  delivery  we  have  been 
considering.  Drill  in  declamation  is  the  best  way 
to  begin,  since  this  will  naturally  lead  to  the  higher 
forms  of  delivery  wherein  you  use  your  own  words 
in  extemporaneous  speaking  and  debating.  Speak 
to  an  imaginary  audience.  Henry  Clay  used  stumps 
and  trees  to  practice  on.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  drill- 
ing too  much.  Students  sometimes  talk  of  getting 
"stale"  when  they  do  not  even  enunciate  clearly. 
To  form  better  habits  of  speech  is  your  object,  and 
new  habits  are  formed  only  by  conscious  attention 
and  continued  practice.  "Trifles  make  perfection," 
said  Michael  Angelo  of  his  art,  "and  perfection  is 
no  trifle."  Then  after  faithful  practice,  when  the 
occasion  for  public  delivery  arrives,  put  your  tech- 
nique in  the  background,  remembering  that  "the 
highest  art  is  to  conceal  art."  Your  previous  prac- 
tice in  technique  will  unconsciously  repeat  itself ; 
and  in  the  final  effort  put  in  the  foreground  mental 
and  moral  earnestness,  and  send  your  message  home 
to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  your  hearers  "with  all 
the  resources  of  the  living  man."  Then  you  will 
really  speak. 


PART  I 

PROSE  AND  POETICAL  SELECTIONS 

For  Intermediate  and  Grammar  Grades 


Squandering  the  Voice 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 

Thit  telection  is  from  Beecher's  celebrated  lecture  on  Oratory. 
Try  to  illustrate  the  thought  expressed  by  voicing  the  ideas  in  live, 
clear,  musical  tones.  Be  sure  to  bring  out  in  round,  full  tones  the 
climax  contained  in  the  last  sentence.  No  gestures  are  needed  in 
this  declamation:  let  the  voice  alone  do  the  work  of  expression. 

How  much  squandering  there  is  of  the  voice ! 
How  little  there  is  of  the  advantage  that  may  come 
from  conversational  tones  !  How  seldom  does  a  man 
dare  to  acquit  himself  with  pathos  and  fervor!  And 
the  men  are  themselves  mechanical  and  methodical 
in  the  bad  way  who  are  most  afraid  of  the  artificial 
training  that  is  given  in  the  schools,  and  who  so 
often  show  by  the  fruit  of  their  labor  that  the  want 
of  oratory  is  the  want  of  education. 

How  remarkable  is  the  sweetness  of  voice  in  the 
mother,  in  the  father,  in  the  household !  The  music 
of  no  chorded  instruments  brought  together  is,  for 
sweetness,  like  the  music  of  familiar  affection  when 
spoken  by  brother  and  sister,  or  by  father  and 
mother. 

Conversation  itself  belongs  to  oratory.  How 
many  men  there  are  who  are  weighty  in  argument, 
who  have  abundant  resources,  and  who  are  almost 
boundless  in  their  power  at  other  times  and  in 
other  places,  but  who,  when  in  company  among 
their  kind,  are  exceedingly  unapt  in  their  methods. 
Having  none  of  the  secret  instruments  by  which  the 

33 


34  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

elements  of  nature  may  be  touched,  having  no  skill 
and  no  power  in  this  direction,  they  stand  as 
machines  before  Hving,  sensitive  men,  A  man  may 
be  a  master  before  an  instrument;  only  the  in- 
strument is  dead ;  and  he  has  the  living  hand ;  and 
out  of  that  dead  instrument  what  wondrous  har- 
mony springs  forth  at  his  touch !  And  if  you  can 
electrify  an  audience  by  the  power  of  a  living  man 
on  dead  things,  how  much  more  should  that  audi- 
ence be  electrified  when  the  chords  are  living  and 
the  man  is  alive,  and  he  knows  how  to  touch  them 
with  divine  inspiration ! 

The  Individual  as  a  Power  Plant 

Melville  W.  Mix 

This  is  an  up-to-date,  straight-from-the-shoulder  business  talk. 
Tell  the  illustrative  story  in  a  perfectly  natural  manner;  then,  in 
the  application  contained  in  the  last  paragraph,  make  your  delivery 
simply  direct,  strong  talk. 

Once  during  the  argument  in  a  lawsuit,  in  which 
Lincoln  represented  one  party,  the  lawyer  on  the 
other  side  was  a  glib  talker  but  not  reckoned  as 
deeply  profound  or  much  of  a  thinker.  He  would 
say  anything  to  a  jury  which  happened  to  enter 
his  head.  Lincoln,  in  his  address  to  the  jury,  re- 
ferring to  this,  said:  "My  friend  on  the  other  side 
is  all  right,  or  would  be  all  right,  were  it  not  for 
the  peculiarity  I  am  about  to  chronicle.  His  habit 
— of  which  you  have  witnessed  a  very  painful 
specimen  in  his  argument  to  you  in  this  case — of 
reckless  assertion  and  statements  without  grounds, 
need  not  be  imputed  to  him  as  a  moral  fault,  or  as 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    35 

telling  of  a  moral  blemish.  He  can't  help  it.  For 
reasons  which,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  you  and  I 
have  not  the  time  to  study  here,  as  deplorable  as 
they  are  surprising,  the  oratory  of  the  gentleman 
completely  suspends  all  action  of  his  mind.  The 
moment  he  begins  to  talk,  his  mental  operations 
cease.  I  never  knew  of  but  one  thing  which  com- 
pared with  my  friend  in  this  particular.  That  was 
a  small  steamboat.  Back  in  the  days  when  I  per- 
formed my  part  as  a  keel-boatman,  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  trifling  little  steamboat  which 
used  to  bustle  and  pufif  and  wheeze  about  the 
Sangamon  River.  It  had  a  five-foot  boiler  and  a 
seven-foot  whistle,  and  every  time  it  whistled  it 
stopped." 

There  must  always  be  some  balance  in  a  steam 
plant ;  for  the  blowing  of  the  whistle  all  the  time, 
however  much  pressure  there  may  be  behind  it, 
won't  get  anywhere.  And  so  it  is  with  this  won- 
derfully contrived  power  plant  made  up  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  human  body.  If  the  boiler 
isn't  big  enough  to  do  the  useful  work  relative 
between  our  steaming  and  whistling  ability,  we 
are  sure  to  fail.  If  we  get  physically  knocked  out, 
we  are  not  on  the  job  at  the  required  time,  we 
don't  produce  the  business  we  should,  and  we  may 
cause  a  loss  to  some  one  else  through  personal 
deficiency  and  incapacity  that  we  could  control  if 
we  would  realize  to  what  extent  we  have  that 
power  within  ourselves.  You  often  meet  men  who 
give  you  the  impression  of  a  runaway  power  plant 
— bustling,  storming  around  like  an  engine  without 


36  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

a  governor,  blowing  away  at  every  joint,  making 
noise  like  one  hundred  miles  an  hour  and  going 
about  ten.  Sometimes  you  wonder  if  they  are  not 
running  backwards. 

Remember  this:  You  are  the  engineer  of  your 
own  steam  plant;  you  must  direct  the  forces  there 
generated ;  you  must  look  out  for  the  losses,  for 
the  direction  thereof  into  channels  and  through 
media  that  produce  motion,  power,  and  thus  per- 
form good  work.  As  you  fail,  the  boiler  inspector 
may  appear  on  the  job  and  condemn  you  for  the 
purpose  employed  and  put  you  on  the  slide  to  the 
junk  dealer.  Do  you  want  that  to  happen?  Is  it 
not  strange  that  in  youth,  especially,  we  do  not  give 
more  careful  and  consistent  attention  to  the  con- 
dition of  our  own  power  plant?  Think  about  it. 
Don't  feed  the  engine  poor  fuel.  Tighten  up  oc- 
casionally the  loose  screws  and  bolts.  Keep  the 
machine  well  oiled.  Don't  wear  it  out  in  "joy 
rides,"  but  give  it  proper  rest  as  well  as  proper 
action.  In  short,  let  us  give  due  attention  to  keep- 
ing ourselves  physically  fit. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    37 

Education  and  Trade 

Woodrow  Wilson 

This  is  taken  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  National 
League  of  Commission  Merchants,  New  York,  January,  1912.  Get 
on  good  terms  with  your  audience  by  bringing  out  the  humor  con- 
tained in  the  opening  of  this  speech.  Do  not  fail  to  make  a  rather 
long  but  natural  pause  after  giving  the  limerick.  The  paragraph 
next  to  the  last  is  largely  argumentative, — an  appeal  to  the  intellect, 
— and  should  be  spoken  accordingly.  The  last  paragraph  is  an  ap- 
peal to  the  emotions,  and  should  be  delivered  in  moderate  to  slow 
rate,  with  a  round,  full — "orotund" — tone. 

In  facing  this  audience,  there  are  two  reasons 
why  I  am  embarrassed :  one  is,  that  there  is  so 
much  to  attract  the  eye,  and  the  other  is  that  it 
distracts  the  thought.  I  am  reminded  by  contrast 
of  a  limerick  which  runs  as  follows : 

For  beauty  I  am  not  a  star, 

There  are  others  more  handsome  by  far, 

But  my  face,  I  don't  mind  it, 

For  I  am  behind  it. 
It's  the  people  in  front  that  I  jar. 

However,  I  venture  to  offer  some  suggestions 
on  the  subject  assigned  me,  "Business  and  Politics." 

Do  you  realize  what  business  life  in  America 
means?  It  means  the  constant  readjustment  to 
new  conditions.  And  in  order  to  keep  our  civiliza- 
tion in  repair,  in  order  to  keep  our  trade  good 
and  to  keep  our  industries  vigorous,  we  have  got 
to  change  them  every  month  of  our  lives.  Every- 
thing depends  upon  some  nice  process  for  which 
you  have  to  employ  experts,  and  you  must  look  to 
the  scientific  schools  of  the  country  to  enable  you 


fllGG 


38  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

to  advance  a  single  inch.  Yoii  have  got  to  hire 
training;  you  have  got  to  employ  knowledge;  you 
have  got  to  give  salaries  to  science  in  order  to 
accomplish  anything  in  America ;  and  now  you  are 
finding,  those  of  you  w^ho  are  manufacturers,  that 
you  did  not  even  know  how  to  keep  your  cost 
sheets;  that  you  can  not  tell  what  a  particular 
division  of  your  business  costs  you,  and  whether 
it  pays  its  own  expenses  or  not;  that  you  have  not 
yet  studied  those  niceties  of  readjustment,  those 
niceties  of  management,  which  mean  the  difference 
between  big  or  little  profits  or  no  profits  at  all, 
and  that  from  this  time  on  you  have  to  employ 
those  brains  which  devote  themselves  to  the  nice- 
ties of  detail. 

Do  you  know  who  are  the  leaders  of  mankind? 
The  leaders  of  mankind  are  those  who  lift  their 
vision  from  the  dusty  road  under  their  feet  and 
look  forward,  and  though  they  are  determined  to 
keep  a  firm  footing  upon  the  road  they  neverthe- 
less gladden  their  eyes  with  the  illuminated  distance, 
to  those  regions  which  seem  to  rise  and  rise,  level 
by  level,  promising  happier  days  for  mankind, 
easier  lives,  more  sympathy,  more  co-operation, 
more  perfect  mutual  understanding,  more  common 
trust,  more  enthusiasm,  more  partisanship  of  what 
is  good,  more  hatred  of  what  is  not  good,  more 
contempt  for  shams,  more  confidence  in  realities* 
They  will  redeem  us  from  our  errors  and  our  mis- 
takes, will  show  us  that  to  open  our  eyes  is  to 
enlarge  our  trust,  and  will  convince  us  that  to  lead 
men  upon  a  great  process  of  change  is  to  keep 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    39 

open  the  love  in  their  hearts  in  order  to  travel  the 
road  of  perfection  which  comes  only  with  applying 
ourselves  to  the  things  that  are  better ;  or,  better, 
giving  over  to  forgetfulness  the  things  that  are 
wrong. 


The  Home  and  the  Republic 

Henry  W.  Grady 

This  selection,  like  several  others  from  Grady's  speeches,  has  long 
been  a  favorite  for  declaiming.  Vivid  imagination  and  sustained 
emotion  are  necessary  for  effective  delivery.  Pause  and  change 
at  the  beginning  of  each  paragraph.  The  scenes  and  incidents  that 
make  up  the  composite  picture  of  the  Capitol,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  country  home,  on  the  other,  might  be  suggested  by  gestures  here 
and  there,  but  for  the  most  part  the  eyes  will  be  the  best  medium 
for  gesture.  See  the  pictures  you  are  describing,  and  then  your 
hearers  will  be  quite  sure  to  see  them  also. 

Not  long  since  I  made  a  trip  to  Washington, 
and  as  I  stood  on  Capitol  Hill  my  heart  beat  quick 
as  I  looked  at  the  towering  marble  of  my  country's 
Capitol,  and  the  mist  gathered  in  my  eyes  as  I 
thought  of  its  tremendous  significance,  and  the 
armies,  and  the  Treasury,  and  the  courts,  and 
Congress  and  the  President,  and  all  that  was 
gathered  there.  And  I  felt  that  the  sun  in  all  its 
course  could  not  look  down  upon  a  better  sight 
than  that  majestic  home  of  the  Republic  that  had 
taught  the  world  its  best  lessons  in  liberty. 

Two  days  afterwards  I  went  to  visit  a  friend 
in  the  country,  a  modest  man,,  with  a  quiet  country 
home.  It  was  just  a  simple,  unpretentious  house, 
set  about  with  great  big  trees,  encircled  in  meadow 
and  fields  rich  with  the  promise  of  harvest.     The 


40  Whining  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

fragrance  of  pink  and  hollyhock  in  the  front  yard 
was  mingled  with  the  aroma  of  the  orchard  and 
the  garden,  and  resonant  with  the  cluck  of  poultry 
and  the  hum  of  bees.  Inside  was  quiet,  cleanli- 
ness, thrift  and  comfort.  Outside  there  stood  my 
friend — master  of  his  land  and  master  of  himself. 
There  was  his  old  father,  an  aged,  trembling  man, 
happy  in  the  heart  and  home  of  his  son.  And 
as  they  started  to  their  home  the  hands  of  the 
old  man  went  down  on  the  young  man's  shoulders, 
laying  there  the  unspeakable  blessing  of  an  hon- 
ored and  grateful  father,  and  ennobling  it  with  the 
Knighthood  of  the  Fifth  commandment.  And  I 
saw  the  night  come  down  on  that  home,  falling 
gently  as  from  the  wings  of  an  unseen  dove,  and 
the  old  man,  while  a  startled  bird  called  from  the 
forest,  and  the  trees  shrilled  with  the  cricket's  cry, 
and  the  stars  were  swarming  in  the  sky,  got  the 
family  around  him  and,  taking  the  old  Bible  from 
the  table,  called  them  to  their  knees,  while  he 
closed  the  record  of  that  simple  day  by  calling 
down  God's  blessing  on  that  family  and  that  home. 
And  while  I  gazed,  the  vision  of  the  marble 
Capitol  faded.  Forgotten  were  its  treasures  and 
its  majesty,  and  I  said:  "O,  surely,  here  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  are  lodged  at  last  the  strength 
and  responsibilities  of  this  government,  the  hope 
and  promise  of  this  Republic." 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    41 

Have  an  Oil  Can  Always  with  You 
L.  M.  Cross 

A  purely  conversational  style  is  best  suited  to  this  selection. 
Give  the  quoted  conversations  naturally  and  in  the  way  each  char- 
acter spoke.  Be  sure  to  pause  long  enough  at  the  end  of  the  first 
paragraph   to   let   the  audience   get   the   point. 

The  other  day,  so  the  newspapers  reported,  an 
express  train  was  speeding  along  almost  as  though 
on  lightning's  wing  when  all  of  a  sudden  the  train, 
acting  as  if  it  were  writhing  in  a  sudden  violent 
pain,  and  with  much  wrenching  and  a  terrific  jar, 
came  to  a  rather  violent  stop.  "What's  the 
trouble?"  every  passenger  involuntarily  asked.  "A 
collision?  Run  over  anybody?"  A  number  of 
people,  with  the  brakeman  and  conductor  in  the 
lead,  hurried  to  an  exit,  and  found  it  was  a  hot 
box.  ''What  is  the  cause?"  we  inquired  of  the 
conductor.  "Too  much  friction  and  not  enough 
oil,"  he  replied. 

In  the  passing  journey  of  life,  when  everything 
seems  to  be  running  along  smootlily,  some  thought- 
less word  is  uttered  and  it  is  angrily  replied  to, 
and  there  is  a  sudden,  violent  stop  of  that  peace- 
ful journey. 

What  is  the  cause?  Too  much  friction.  A  little 
oil  poured  at  the  proper  moment  would  have  pre- 
vented the  trouble. 

Dr.  Parkhurst  tells  of  a  workman  who  was  in 
a  trolley  car  one  day.  As  the  door  opened  and 
shut,  it  squeaked.  The  workman  quickly  rose  from 
his  seat,  and  taking  a  little  can  from  his  pocket 


42  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

dropped  some  oil  upon  the  offending  spot,  saying 
as  he  sat  down :  "I  always  carry  an  oil  can  in 
my  pocket,  for  there  are  so  many  squeaky  things 
in  this  world  where  a  little  oil  will  help,"  Dr. 
Parkhurst,  commenting,  says  that  love  is  an  anti- 
irritant,  and  that  we  can  soften  many  attacks  and 
prevent  unpleasant  and  jarring  frictions  if  we  will 
only  speak  the  kindly  word  at  the  right  time. 

Let  us  all  carry  little  oil  cans  with  us  everywhere 
and  be  quick  to  apply  the  remedy  to  squeaking, 
jarring  situations  whenever  they  may  arise. 

The  Different  Kinds  of  Gossip 
P.  W.  Horn 

This  selection  is  just  a  plain,  direct,  strong  talk,  and  should  be 
spoken  accordingly.  Be  sure  to  place  the  emphasis  so  you  bring 
out  the  thought,  and  do  not  fail  to  pause  and  change  at  the  beginning 
of  each  paragraph,  so  that  each  new  topic  is  properly  introduced. 

There  are  several  different  kinds  of  gossip,  and 
each  one  may  b'e  typified  by  some  member  of  the 
animal  creation. 

First  take  the  goose.  The  goose  gabbles  and 
hisses,  not  because  she  is  malicious,  but  because  she 
has  nothing  better  to  do ;  and  because  she  is  a 
goose. 

Next  comes  the  mosquito.  The  mosquito  buzzes 
and  bites  not  because  he  is  vindictive,  but  because 
he  is  too  small  to  do  anything  else.  It  is  for  the 
mosquito  type  of  intellect  that  the  newspapers  of  a 
certain  type  print  gossipy  articles  about  the  actress 
>)r  the  divorcee,  telling  the  color  of  the  shoes  and 


/ 

Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  43 

stockings  she  wears,  the  way  she  has  her  eggs  fried 
for  breakfast,  or  the  kind  of  poodle  she  prefers. 

Then  comes  the  old  hen  type  of  gossip.  The  hen 
ruffles  up  her  feathers  and  pecks  at  anything  that 
may  come  about,  not  on  account  of  any  innate 
bloodthirstiness,  but  merely  because  she  feels  cross, 
and  on  general  principles. 

Next  we  have  the  buzzard.  He  circles  around 
any  place  in  which  he  hopes  or  imagines  there  may 
be  something  rotten,  merely  because  his  taste  leads 
him  to  love  things  that  are  rotten. 

Last  comes  the  snake.  He  coils  himself  out  of 
sight  in  the  grass  and  lies  in  wait  that  he  may  sud- 
denly strike  some  passer-by  and  fill  his  system  with 
the  poison  that  is  natural  in  a  snake's  fang. 

Of  course,  if  one  deliberately  choose,  he  has  a 
perfect  right  to  act  the  goose,  or  to  be  a  mosquito, 
an  old  hen,  a  buzzard  or  a  snake.  There  is  no  way 
in  the  world  to  prevent  the  goose  from  gabbling, 
the  mosquito  from  buzzing,  or  the  rest  of  the  ani- 
mals from  acting  out  their  nature. 

Still,  there  are  drawbacks.  The  goose  must  not 
complain  if  she  is  considered  a  goose.  The  mos- 
quito must  expect  to  be  slapped  at,  and  finally  to  be 
swatted.  The  old  hen  will  not  find  a  welcome  in 
polite  society.  The  buzzard  can  never  hope  to  rank 
as  a  gentleman.  The  snake  must  not  be  surprised 
if  sometimes  a  heel  is  placed  upon  his  head. 

The  next  time,  when  in  the  course  of  a  gossipy 
conversation,  you  have  gone  so  far  as  to  say  an 
unkind  thing  about  some  brother  man  or  some 
sister  woman,  stop  for  a  moment  and  classify  your 


44  IP'inning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

remark.  Was  it  the  gabble  of  the  goose,  the  buzz 
of  the  mosquito,  the  pecking  of  an  old  hen,  the 
belching  of  a  buzzard,  or  the  striking  of  the  snake 
in  the  grass? 

One  of  these,  it  is  bound  to  have  been.  Perhaps 
if  you  can  decide  which  one,  it  may  help  you  to 
be  more  considerate  next  time. 

The  Little  Old  School  of  the  Home 

Irving  Bacheller 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the  New 
England  Society,  1913.  The  sly  humor  running  through  the  first 
half  of  this  declamation  should  be  appreciated  and  expressed.  Next 
to  the  last  paragraph  begins  the  application  of  the  story.  Pause  at 
this  point  and  express  the  greater  seriousness  as  you  begin  "to 
point  a  moral,"  and  the  seriousness  should  be  sustained  to  the  end. 

When  I  was  eight  years  old  I  became  a  candi- 
date for  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
nomination  was  a  genuine  surprise,  for  I  had 
made  no  effort  to  secure  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
there  were  many  things  that  looked  better  to  me ; 
I  would  have  preferred  the  position  of  bass  drum- 
mer in  the  band  at  the  county  fair,  but  there  were 
those  who  thought  they  knew  what  I  wanted  better 
than  I  did.  We  lived  in  the  land  of  Silas  Wright, 
who  spent  more  time  declining  honors  than  did 
other  statesmen  in  trying  to  get  them.  His  party 
wanted  him  to  run  for  President,  but  he  wouldn't. 
My  father  said  that  all  I  had  to  do  was  to  be 
as  good  and  as  great  as  Silas  Wright  and  my  elec- 
tion was  sure.  Governor  Wright  had  been  dead 
for  twenty  years.     I  soon  learned  that  he  was  the 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    45 

greatest  man  that  ever  died — there  is  no  distinction 
like  that.  I  had  no  sooner  got  command  of  the 
theory  and  technique  of  one  of  his  virtues  than 
he  assumed  another.  When  I  had  acquired  his 
gift  of  working  all  day  and  studying  a  part  of  the 
night,  they  told  me  that  he  always  spent  an  hour 
in  the  garden,  pulling  weeds  before  breakfast.  I 
began  to  understand  why  he  was  dead  and  also 
why  he  was  so  talented.  Everybody  was  watching 
me  and  nobody  was  watching  Silas.  By  and  by 
I  discovered  that  there  were  other  candidates  for 
President  in  the  neighborhood.  The  Silas  game 
had  also  been  tried  on  them.  We  candidates  got 
together  one  day  over  in  Howard's  grove  and  dis- 
cussed the  issues.  We  were  sick  of  the  campaign 
— too  many  weeds  in  it.  We  all  withdrew  and 
ran  away  from  school  and  spent  a  joyful  after- 
noon at  the  old  swimmin'  hole.  Next  morning  I 
came  downstairs  at  breakfast  time  and  found  that 
the  teacher  had  been  there.  I  observed  a  general 
air  of  depression  in  the  family. 

My  father  said  in  a  kindly  tone:  "I  thought 
that  you  intended  to  be  President." 

I  told  him  that  I  had  withdrawn. 

Then  he  said:    "Will  you  please  come  with  me?" 

I  went.  It  was  a  beautiful  summer  morning, 
as  calm  as  he.  A  song  sparrow  tried  to  hold  up 
my  heart.  A  squirrel  looked  down  at  me  from 
a  tree-top  as  if  he  had  a  hole  to  recommend.  I 
followed  in  silence  through  the  garden  walk  and 
out  under  the  orchard  boughs.  Not  a  word  was 
spoken.    My  father  stopped  and  cut  a  sprout  from 


46  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

one  of  the  trees  and  then  another  and  trimmed 
them  as  he  walked.  He  stopped  and  whittled, 
looking  down  thoughtfully.  I  stood  near  him. 
After  a  moment  of  silence  he  said: 

"I  suppose  you  know  the  object  of  this  meeting." 

I  admitted  that  I  did. 

Suddenly  I  heard  a  boy  yelling  down  in  the 
valley.  It  was  the  voice  of  an  ex-candidate.  In 
a  minute  he  knew  that  I  was  with  him.  After  all, 
what  did  this  striving  to  be  angels  and  Presidents 
amount  to?    Not  one  of  us  was  ever  elected. 

Such  was  the  little  repubhc  of  the  home  when  I 
was  a  boy.  It  had  its  chief  magistrate,  its  small 
legislature,  its  department  of  justice.  It  had  a 
little  school  of  its  own  in  which  men  were  made. 
Two  things  were  taught  in  it — loyalty  and  faith. 
Loyalty  to  the  home  and  its  ideals;  faith  in  one's 
self.  ,  We've  no  more  use  for  that  little  school. 
Too  small !  too  much  trouble !  we  are  so  busy  mak- 
ing money  and  spending  it  we  can't  bother  with 
making  men.  We  educate  our  children  by  the 
thousand  and  no  longer  by  the  one.  It's  cheaper. 
Our  learning,  like  our  living,  is  syndicated. 

There  are  six  men  who  have  done  all  the  big 
things  accomplished  in  America  since  1850.  They 
are :  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  who  gave  us  the 
railroad  system ;  Abraham  Lincoln,  our  greatest 
statesman ;  Thomas  A.  Edison,  our  greatest  in- 
ventor; Horace  Greeley,  our  greatest  journalist; 
Samuel  L.  Clemens,  our  most  original  novelist; 
Walt  Whitman,  our  greatest  poet.  Every  one  of 
them  born  in  a  cabin  and  mother  made — educated 


Winning  D eclamations-H ow  to  Speak  Them    47 

in  the  little  school  of  the  home  and  only  there — 
never  went  to  college !  I  mention  this  not  in  dis- 
paragement of  the  college,  but  only  that  the  little  old 
school  of  the  home  shall  have  its  proper  credit. 

The  Greatest  Battle  Ever  Won 

Wilson  Williams 

The  combined  sentiment  and  rhythm  of  poetry  are  pleasing  to  the 
ear.  Orators  are  therefore  wont  to  close  their  speeches  with  an 
appropriate  poetic  quotation.  Notice  how  the  stanzas  quoted  at  the 
close  of  this  selection  re-enforce  the  theme — self-mastery — and  form 
a  climax  of  the  whole.  Special  effort  should  be  made  to  deliver  the 
lines  in  rather  slow  rate  and  strong,  round,  full  tones,  at  the  same 
time  not  failing  to  place  the  emphasis  so  as  to  bring  out  the  thought. 

It  was  not  on  the  bloody  fields  of  Austerlitz 
or  Waterloo,  where  Napoleon  won  and  was  van- 
quished; it  was  not  at  Gettysburg  where  the  great- 
est struggle  of  modern  warfare  was  witnessed ;  it 
was  in  none  of  the  titanic  battles  in  which  the 
Russians  were  overthrown  by  the  Japanese ;  it  was 
not  at  Verdun  or  Lemberg:  no,  it  is  not  on  the 
fields  of  carnage  and  strife  that  the  greatest  battles 
of  human  history  are  fought  and  won,  but  it  is  in 
the  depths  of  the  human  spirit  itself  that  this 
victory  is  wrought,  for  the  wisest  of  men  has.  truly 
affirmed,  "Greater  is  he  that  ruleth  his  own  spirit 
than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 

The  noblest  standard  ever  erected  had  em- 
blazoned on  it  these  stirring  words,  "I  conquer 
myself !"  Self-mastery  is  the  greatest  as  well  as 
the  rarest  of  virtues.  Alexander  the  Great,  whonj 
his  enemies  could  not  check  in  his  renowned  con- 
quest of  the  world,  was  he  not  overthrown  and 


48  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

conquered  by  his  own  appetites  and  passions,  the 
enchantment  of  the  wine  cup?  Was  it  not  the 
quenchless  ambition  of  Napoleon's  spirit  that  drove 
him  to  leave  Elba's  shores  and  again  take  up  arms 
against  a  combined  Europe?  Did  it  not  lead  to 
his  final  overthrow  and  complete  defeat?  How 
many  more  less  eminent  but  truly  as  human  as  the 
two  great  masters  of  warfare  just  named,  have 
been  lured  and  engulfed  forever  in  their  own  pas- 
sionate desires  and  selfish  hates? 

What  are  riches  and  honors  to  men  who  are  the 
slaves  of  their  own  passions?  What  the  grandeur 
of  a  throne  to  him  who  is  dethroned  by  ambition 
and  lust? 

How  long  or  how  well  we  live  "not  years  but 
actions  tell."  He  lives  best  and  wisest  who,  while 
ruling  his  own  spirit,  overcomes  every  obstacle  in 
the  pathway  to  a  noble  and  worthy  success,  and 
wins  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellows  not  by 
the  conquest  of  the  sword,  but  by  the  sweet  min- 
istries of  love  and  tender  regard.  Let  the  motive- 
power  be  not  mere  brute  force,  not  the  military 
spirit,  but  rather  the  spirit  breathed  in  these  lines 
by  the  poet  Henley: 

Out  of  the  night  that  covers  me, 
Black  as  the  pit  from  pole  to  pole, 

I  thank  whatever  gods  may  be 
For  my  unconquerable  soul. 

In  the  fell  touch  of  circumstance 
I  have  not  winced  nor  cried  aloud.  — 

Under  the  bludgeonings  of  chance 
My  head  is  bloody,  but  unbowed. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    49 

Beyond  this  place  of  wrath  and  tears 
Looms  but  the  horror  of  the  shade, 

And  yet  the  menace  of  the  years 
Finds,  and  shall  find,  me  unafraid. 

It  matters  not  how  strait  the  gate. 

How  charged  with  punishment  the  scroll, 

I  am  the  master  of  my  fate : 
I  am  the  captain  of  my  soul. 


The  Other  Fellow 

William  Hawley  Smith 

Go  rather  slowly  through  the  first  paragraph,  dwelling  upon— 
emphasizing — such  words  as  "yourself"  and  "the  Other  Fellow,"  so 
that  your  hearers  will  get  the  point  of  this  talk  at  the  outset.  Then 
try  to  speak  what  the  Other  Fellow  says  just  as  you  imagine  he 
would  say  it  in  each  case. 

Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says  that  in 
every  one  of  us  there  are  two  persons.  First, 
there  is  yourself,  and  then  there  is  the  Other  Fel- 
low !  Now  one  of  these  is  all  the  time  doing 
things,  and  the  other  sits  inside  and  tells  what  he 
thinks  about  the  performance.  Thus,  I  do  so-and- 
so,  act  so-and-so,  seem  to  the  world  so-and-so; 
but  the  Other  Fellow  sits  in  judgment  on  me  all 
the  time. 

I  may  tell  a  lie,  and  do  it  so  cleverly  that  the 
people  may  think  that  I  have  done  or  said  a  great 
or  good  thing;  and  they  may  shout  my  praises  far 
and  wide.  But  the  Other  Fellow  sits  inside,  and 
says,  "You  lie!  you  He!  you're  a  sneak,  and  you 
know  it !"  I  tell  him  to  shut  up,  to  hear  what  the 
people  say  about  me;  but  he  only  continues  to  re- 


50  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

peat  over  and  over  again,  "You  lie !  you  lie !  you're 
a  sneak,  and  you  know  it!" 

Or,  again,  I  may  do  a  really  noble  deed,  but 
perhaps  be  misunderstood  by  the  public,  who  may 
persecute  me  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against 
me,  falsely ;  but  the  Other  Fellow  will  sit  inside 
and  say,  "Never  mind,  old  boy!  It's  all  right! 
Stand  by !" 

And  I  would  rather  hear  the  "well  done"  of  the 
Other  Fellow  than  the  shouts  of  praise  of  the 
whole  world;  while  I  would  a  thousand  times 
rather  that  the  people  should  shout  and  hiss  them- 
selves hoarse  with  rage  and  envy,  than  that  the 
Other  Fellow  should  sit  inside  and  say,  "You  lie! 
you  lie!  you're  a  sneak,  and  you  know  it!" 


"I  am  an  American" 
Elias  Liebermann 

This  is  adapted  from  a  poem  in  Everybody's  Magazine  for  July, 
1916.  Since  this  selection  requires  strong  feeling  and  force  through- 
out, especial  care  should  be  used  in  pausing  and  changing  the 
delivery — dropping  for  a  moment  to  the  conversational  style — at 
the  transitional  paragraphs  when  each  boy  is  introduced. 

The  Great  War  in  Europe  has  made  a  strong 
call  for  the  exercise  of  American  patriotism.  And 
why  should  not  Americans  be  patriotic?  If  the 
Russian,  under  a  despotic  government,  thinks  that 
the  Czar  is  in  very  truth  divine;  if  the  German 
believes  that  his  Fatherland  is  of  more  value  than 
life  itself;  if  the  Englishman  thrills  at  the  thought 
X)f  the  British  Empire;  if  the  Irishman  knows  no 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    51 

country  as  dear  as  the  Emerald  Isle;  if  the  China- 
man pities  everybody  born  outside  the  Flowery 
Kingdom,  and  the  Japanese  give  their  oole  devo- 
tion to  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun — shall  not  we, 
in  this  land  of  glorious  liberty,  have  some  thought 
and  love  of  country? 

At  a  meeting  of  school  children  in  Madison 
Square  Garden,  New  York  City,  to  celebrate  the 
Fourth  of  July,  one  boy,  a  descendant  of  native 
Americans,  spoke  as  follows : 

"I  am  an  American.  My  father  belongs  to  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution ;  my  mother,  to  the  Colonial 
Dames.  One  of  my  ancestors  pitched  tea  over- 
board in  Boston  Harbor ;  another  stood  his  ground 
with  Warren ;  another  hungered  with  Washington 
at  Valley  Forge.  My  forefathers  were  American 
in  the  making :  they  spoke  in  her  council  halls ; 
they  died  on  her  battle-fields ;  they  commanded  her 
ships ;  they  cleared  her  forests.  Dawns  reddened 
and  paled.  Stanch  hearts  of  mine  beat  fast  at 
each  new  star  in  the  nation's  flag.  Keen  eyes 
of  mine  foresaw  her  greater  glory ;  the  sweep  of 
her  seas,  the  plenty  of  her  plains,  the  man-hives 
in  her  billion-wired  cities.  Every  drop  of  blood 
in  me  holds  a  heritage  of  patriotism.  I  am  proud 
of  my  past.     I  am  an  American." 

Then  a  foreign-born  boy  arose  and  said : 

"I  am  an  American.  My  father  was  an  atom  of 
dust,  my  mother  was  a  straw  in  the  wind,  to  His 
Serene  Majesty.  One  of  my  ancestors  died  in  the 
mines  of  Siberia ;  another  was  crippled  for  life 
by  twenty  blows  of  the  knut;  another  was  killed 


52  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

defending  his  home  during  the  massacres.  The 
history  of  my  ancestors  is  a  trail  of  blood  to  the 
palace-gate  of  the  Great  White  Czar.  But  then 
the  dream  came — the  dream  of  America.  In  the 
light  of  the  Liberty  torch  the  atom  of  dust  became 
a  man  and  the  straw  in  the  wind  became  a  woman 
for  the  first  time.  'See,'  said  my  father,  pointing 
to  the  flag  that  fluttered  near,  'that  flag  of  stars 
and  stripes  is  yours;  it  is  the  emblem  of  the  prom- 
ised land.  It  means,  my  son,  the  hope  of  humanity. 
Live  for  it  ...  ,  die  for  it !'  Under  the  open 
sky  of  my  new  country  I  swore  to  do  so;  and 
every  drop  of  blood  in  me  will  keep  that  vow,  I 
am  proud  of  my  future.     I  am  an  American." 


Importance  of  Little  Things 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 

For  pupils  in  the  third,  fourth,  or  fifth  grades  this  selection  is  an 
"old  favorite."  Aim  to  place  the  emphasis  so  as  to  explain  the 
thought,  and  to  speak  with  moderate  rate  so  that  the  hearers  will  get 
the  thought  as  you  speak.  Say  it  all  in  a  perfectly  natural,  con- 
versational manner. 

Little  things  may  be  important  by  what  they 
draw  after  them.  I  can  imagine,  in  the  visions  of 
the  night,  as  the  old  miller  sleeps,  that  a  crawfish 
comes  to  him  and  threatens  him.  You  know  what 
a  crawfish  is.  It  is  a  homely  little  fresh-water 
lobster  that  loves  water  and  mud.  He  threatens 
the  miller  with  disaster,  except  upon  some  condi- 
tion granted.  The  surly  old  miller  laughs  to  scorn 
the  threat  of  the  crawfish.     The  crawfish  departs. 


» 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    53 

The  miller  by  and  by  wakes  up  and  starts  his  mill, 
and  away  goes  the  wheel,  making  music  to  his  ear. 
The  crawfish  goes  to  the  dam  above.  He  is  not 
much.  The  river  is  a  thousand  times  mightier 
than  he;  and  so  is  the  massive  dam.  But  he  com- 
mences to  bore  into  the  clay.  He  keeps  boring, 
and  boring,  and  boring,  till  by  and  by  he  has  made 
a  tunnel  clear  through  to  the  other  side  of  the 
bank.  And  first  one  drop  comes  through;  and 
then  another ;  and  then  another ;  and  each  drop 
takes  a  little  dirt  with  it.  Gradually,  the  hole 
grows  larger  and  larger.  This  goes  on  all  day 
and  all  night ;  and  at  length  the  channel  is  so  worn 
that  a  considerable  stream  runs  through  it.  And 
at  last  that  stream  becomes  a  freshet,  and  gains  a 
force  and  impetus  such  that  it  carries  everything 
with  it.  And  away  go  the  abutments  and  timbers 
of  the  dam ;  and  away  goes  the  miller's  mill ;  and 
away  goes  his  house  upon  the  bank;  and  the  trees 
and  all  things  are  whelmed  in  the  flood. 

Now%  which  is  the  stronger,  the  crawfish  or  the 
miller  and  his  dam?  The  crawfish  is  a  little  thing; 
it  was  a  small  hole  that  he  made;  but  ah!  it  was 
what  it  led  to  that  determines  its  importance.  It 
will  never  do  to  call  things  little  till  you  see  what 
they  can  do. 


54  Winning  Dcclaniations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Flag  of  the  Union  Forever 
Fitshugh  Lee 

It  is  a  great  art  to  tell  well  an  illustrative  story  such  as  is  con- 
tained in  the  first  paragraph  of  this  speech.  Tell  it  naturally  and  in 
a  colloquial,  off-hand  way,  not  failing  to  bring  out  the  point  at  the 
close  by  dwelling  upon  the  word  "lye."  Then,  after  a  fairly  long 
pause,  there  is  a  marked  change  in  the  delivery  as  the  second  para- 
graph is  reached.  More  seriousness  is  required,  and  this  should  be 
maintained  with  gradually  increasing  force  to  the  end. 

You  have  all  heard  of  "George  Washington  and 
his  little  hatchet."  The  other  day  I  heard  a  story 
that  was  a  little  variation  upon  the  original,  and 
I  am  going  to  take  up  your  time  for  a  minute  by 
repeating  it  to  you.  It  was  to  this  effect:  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Washington,  the  parents  of  George, 
found  on  one  occasion  that  their  supply  of  soap 
for  the  use  of  the  family  at  Westmoreland  had 
been  exhausted,  and  so  they  decided  to  make  some 
family  soap.  They  made  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments and  gave  the  requisite  instructions  to  the 
family  servant.  After  an  hour  or  so  the  servant 
returned  and  reported  to  them  that  he  could  not 
make  that  soap.  "Why  not,"  he  was  asked; 
"haven't  you  all  the  materials?"  "Yes,"  he  re- 
plied ;  "but  there  is  something  wrong."  The  old 
folks  proceeded  to  investigate,  and  they  found  they 
had  actually  got  the  ashes  of  the  little  cherry  tree 
that  George  had  cut  down  with  his  hatchet,  and 
there  was  no  lye  in  it ! 

Now,  I  assure  you,  there  is  no  "lie"  in  what  I 
say  to  you  to-day,  and  that  is,  that  I  thank  God 
for  the  sun  of  the  Union  which,  once  obscured. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    55 

is  now  again  in  the  full  stage  of  its  glory.  We 
have  had  our  differences.  I  do  not  see,  upon  read- 
ing history,  how  they  could  well  have  been  avoided. 
The  sword,  at  any  rate,  settled  the  controversy. 
But  that  is  behind  us.  We  have  now  a  great  and 
glorious  future  in  front  of  us,  and  it  is  Virginia's 
duty  to  do  all  that  she  can  to  promote  the  honor 
and  glory  of  this  country.  We  fought  to  the  best 
of  our  ability  for  four  years;  and  it  would  be  a 
great  mistake  to  assume  that  you  could  bring  men 
from  their  cabins,  from  their  plows,  from  their 
houses,  and  from  their  families  to  make  them  fight 
as  they  fought  in  that  contest  unless  they  were 
fighting  for  a  belief.  Those  men  believed  that  they 
had  the  right  construction  of  the  Constitution,  and 
that  a  state  that  voluntarily  entered  the  Union 
could  voluntarily  withdraw  from  it.  They  did  not 
fight  for  Confederate  money.  It  was  not  worth 
ten  cents  a  yard.  They  did  not  fight  for  Confed- 
erate rations — you  would  have  had  to  curtail  the 
demands  of  your  appetite  to  make  it  correspond 
with  the  size  and  quality  of  those  rations.  They 
fought  for  what  they  thought  was  a  proper  con- 
struction of  the  Constitution.  They  were  defeated. 
They  acknowledged  their  defeat.  They  came  back 
to  their  father's  house,  and  there  they  are  going 
to  stay.  But  if  we  are  to  continue  prosperous,  if 
this  country,  stretching  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Lakes 
and  from  ocean  to  ocean,  is  to  be  mindful  of  its 
own  best  interests,  in  the  future  we  will  have  to 
make  concessions  and  compliances,  we  will  have 
to  bear  with  each  other  and  respect  each  other's 


56  Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them 

opinions.  Then  we  will  find  that  that  harmony- 
will  be  secured  which  is  as  necessary  for  the  wel- 
fare of  states  as  it  is  for  the  welfare  of  individuals. 
If  all  the  people  prior  to  our  Civil  War  had  been 
known  to  each  other,  or  had  been  thrown  together 
in  business  or  social  communication,  the  fact  would 
have  been  recognized  at  the  outset,  as  it  is  to- 
day, that  there  are  just  as  good  men  in  Texas  as 
there  are  in  Maine.  Human  nature  is  everywhere 
the  same;  and  when  intestine  strifes  occur  we  will 
doubtless  always  be  able  by  a  conservative,  pacific 
course  to  pass  smoothly  over  the  rugged,  rocky 
edges,  and  the  old  Ship  of  State  will  be  brought 
into  a  safe,  commodious,  Constitutional  harbor 
with  the  flag  of  the  Union  flying  over  her,  and 
there  it  shall  remain. 

Houston's  Crowning  Glory 

M.  E.  Kleberg 

The  story  of  Sam  Houston  and  the  decisive  battle  of  San  Jacinto 
is  of  never-failing  interest  to  students  of  American  history.  In  study- 
ing the  following  selection  for  delivery,  note  the  strong  climax  at  the 
close  of  the  second  paragraph.  The  third  paragraph  continues  the 
narrative,  another  strong  climax  being  reached  when  the  "command" 
to  charge  is  given.  At  this  point  rapid  and  strong  force  are  re- 
quired, continuing  through  the  sentence  ending  with  "flight."  Pause 
at  this  point  and  employ  slower  rate,  but  with  no  abatement  of  force. 

The  fate  of  the  Alamo  and  Goliad  hung  like 
a  deepening  shadow  over  the  whole  land,  and 
filled  the  heart  of  every  true  Texan  with  inex- 
pressible grief.  But  it  also  ripened  in  his  mind 
the  unalterable  resolution  to  avenge  his  murdered 
countrymen    and    forever    rescue    his    home    from 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    57 

Mexican  despotism.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  Gen- 
eral Houston,  and  in  him  and  his  little  army 
centered  the  last  hope  of  the  Texans.  At  the  time 
of  the  massacre  of  the  Alamo  and  Goliad,  General 
Houston,  with  an  army  of  about  350  men,  was  at 
or  near  Gonzales,  and  immediately  began  his  fa- 
mous retreat  toward  the  east. 

As  the  retreat  continued,  the  country  behind 
was  abandoned  to  the  merciless  foe  and  the  torch 
of  the  more  savage  Indian.  Their  husbands  and 
fathers  in  the  army,  no  one  remained  at  home  to 
care  for  the  defenseless  women  and  children,  and 
they  were  forced  to  desert  hearth  and  home,  and 
seek  refuge  in  flight  for  personal  safety.  Women 
and  their  little  children,  with  no  other  conveyance 
than  the  backs  of  Spanish  ponies,  no  roads  to 
travel  save  the  paths  of  the  wilderness,  and  no 
roofs  to  shelter  them  at  night  save  the  canopy  of 
heaven,  were  the  vanguard  of  the  retreating  army. 
But  privations  and  perils  before  which  the  stoutest 
heart  would  quail  served  only  to  unfold  the  sub- 
lime courage  of  true  womanhood,  and  whether 
finding  the  unknown  paths  of  the  wilderness  or 
as  sentinels  over  their  children  in  the  lonely 
watches  of  the  night,  these  heroic  daughters  of 
Texas  bore,  with  unflinching  fortitude,  the  dangers 
and  hardships  of  war,  and  by  their  noble  example 
rallied  those  that  grew  faint-hearted  or  hopeless 
amid  the  distress  of  the  hour. 

The  retreat  continued  until  the  Texas  army,  in- 
creased to  750  men,  reached  San  Jacinto,  closely 
followed  by  a  ]\Iexican  force  under  Santa  Anna, 


58  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

1600  strong.  The  great  day  contemplated  by  the 
military  plans  of  General  Houston  had  dawned. 
Clear  and  bright  rises  the  sun  on  the  morning 
of  the  memorable  21st  of  April,  1836.  In  his 
course  he  has  reached  his  western  decline  and  his 
beams  fall  upon  the  Texas  army  in  full  battle 
array.  Upon  the  fortunes  of  this  day  hang  the 
destinies  of  an  empire,  and  free  government  and 
human  liberty  tremble  in  the  balance.  The  army  of 
the  invader  rests  in  confidence  behind  breastworks, 
heedless  of  impending  fate  and  unconscious  of  the 
splendid  strategy  of  the  Texan  commander,  and 
the  dauntless  courage  of  his  soldiers.  Down  the 
lines  runs  the  command  of  General  Houston,  and 
forward  rush  his  intrepid  columns,  the  battle  cry, 
"Remember  the  Alamo !  Remember  Goliad  1"  ring- 
ing in  the  air.  Amid  the  boom  of  cannon  and  the 
rattle  of  musketry  the  enemy's  breastworks  are 
stormed,  and  men  lock  shields  in  the  fearful  throes 
of  battle.  Within  twenty  minutes  the  great  Mexi- 
can army  of  operations  is  annihilated — dead, 
wounded,  captured  or  scattered  in  flight.  The 
meteor  of  conquest  that  lured  the  ambitious  dic- 
tator into  the  border  of  our  land  has  forever  van- 
ished. In  its  place,  at  high  meridian,  blazes  and 
sparkles  in  unrivaled  splendor  the  Lone  Star  of 
the  Republic  of  Texas,  and  from  hilltop  to  moun- 
tain summit  there  rings  the  gladsome  tidings, 
"Liberty  and  Independence — Texas  is  free." 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    59 

The  Liberty  Bell 

George  Lippard 

Aim  particularly  to  bring  out  the  many  and  sometimes  quick 
changes — or  transitions — that  occur  in  this  declam;ition.  Each  part 
of  the  story  must  be  plainly  indicated  as  it  is  reached.  Be  sure  to 
express  the  climax  as  the  boy  shouts  "Ring."  The  paragraph 
following  this  requires  rapid  rate  and  very  strong  force,  and  the  sub- 
sequent paragraph  requires  slower  rate,  but  sustained  force  and 
greater  volume. 

It  is  a  cloudless  summer  day;  a  clear  blue  sky 
arches  and  expands  above  a  quaint  edifice,  rising 
among  the  giant  trees  in  the  center  of  a  wide  city. 
The  edifice  is  built  of  plain  red  brick,  with  heavy 
window  frames,  and  a  massive  hall  door. 

Such  is  the  State  House  of  Philadelphia,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1776. 

In  yonder  wooden  steeple,  which  crowns  the  sum- 
mit of  that  red  brick  State  House,  stands  an  old 
man  with  snow-white  hair  and  sunburnt  face.  He 
is  clad  in  humble  attire,  yet  his  eye  gleams,  as  it  is 
fixed  on  the  ponderous  outline  of  the  bell  suspended 
in  the  steeple  there.  By  his  side,  gazing  into  his 
sunburnt  face  in  wonder,  stands  a  flaxen-haired 
boy  with  laughing  eyes  of  summer  blue.  The  old 
man  ponders  for  a  moment  upon  the  strange 
words  written  upon  the  bell,  then,  gathering  the 
boy  in  his  arms,  he  speaks :  "Look  here,  my 
child.  Will  you  do  this  old  man  a  kindness  ?  Then 
hasten  down  the  stairs,  and  wait  in  the  hall  below 
till  a  man  gives  you  a  message  for  me;  when  he 
gives  you  that  word,  run  out  into  the  street  and 
shout   it   up   to   me.      Do   you   mind?"     The  boy 


6o  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

sprang  from  the  old  man's  arms,  and  threaded  his 
way  down  the  dark  stairs. 

Many  minutes  passed.  The  old  bell  keeper  was 
alone.  "Ah,"  groaned  the  old  man,  "he  has  for- 
gotten me."  As  the  word  was  upon  his  lips  a 
merry  ringing  laugh  was  upon  his  ear.  And  there, 
among  the  crowd  on  the  pavement,  stood  the  blue- 
eyed  boy,  clapping  his  tiny  hands  while  the  breeze 
blew  his  flaxen  hair  all  about  his  face,  and,  swell- 
ing his  little  chest,  he  raised  himself  on  tiptoe,  and 
shouted  the  single  word,  "Ring!" 

Do  you  see  that  old  man's  eye  afire?  Do  you 
see  that  arm  so  suddenly  bared  to  the  shoulder? 
Do  you  see  that  withered  hand  grasping  the  iron 
tongue  of  the  bell?  That  old  man  is  young  again. 
His  veins  are  filling  with  a  new  life.  Backward 
and  forward,  with  sturdy  strokes,  he  swings  the 
tongue.  The  bell  peals  out;  the  crowds  in  the 
street  hear  it,  and  burst  forth  in  one  long  shout. 
Old  Delaware  hears  it,  and  gives  it  back  on  the 
cheers  of  her  thousand  sailors.  The  city  hears  it, 
and  starts  up,  from  desk  and  workshop,  as  if  an 
earthquake  had  spoken. 

Yes,  as  the  old  man  swung  that  iron  tongue, 
the  bell  spoke  to  all  the  world.  That  sound  crossed 
the  Atlantic — pierced  the  dungeons  of  Europe — 
the  workshops  of  England — the  vassal-fields  of 
France.  That  echo  spoke  to  the  slave — bade  him 
look  up  from  his  toil,  and  know  himself  a  man. 
That  echo  startled  the  kings  upon  their  crumbling 
thrones.  That  echo  was  the  knell  of  all  crafts 
born  of  the  darkness  of  ages,  and  baptized  in  seas 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    6i 

of  blood.  For  under  that  very  bell  pealing  out 
noonday,  in  that  old  hall,  fifty-six  traders,  farm- 
ers, and  mechanics  had  assembled  to  strike  off  the 
shackles  of  the  world.  And  that  bell  that  now 
voices  the  Declaration  of  Independence  still  speaks 
out  to  the  world : 

Proclaim  Liberty  to  all  the  Land  and  all  the 
Inhabitants  thereof.  God  has  given  the  American 
continent  to  the  free. 

Wealth  and  Aptitude 

Leslie  M.  Shaw 

This  selection,  taken  from  a  commencement  address  delivered  by 
a  former  U.  S.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  is  just  a  plain  interesting, 
serious  talk,  lightened  by  a  flavor  of  humor.  Note  how  the  concrete 
illustrations  add  interest  to  the  reasoning.  If  the  talk  is  of  interest 
to   you,    speak   it   so   it   will  also  be   interesting  to   your   audience. 

Admittedly,  the  American  people  are  the  best 
fed,  the  best  clothed,  the  best  housed,  the  best  edu- 
cated, enjoy  more  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of 
life  and  suffer  less  hardships  and  privations,  than 
any  other  people  on  the  earth ;  but  it  is  an  even 
guess  if  they  are  not  also  more  restless,  discon- 
tented, and  unhappy.  I  am  disposed  to  think  this 
regrettable  state  of  mind  arises  not  so  much  from 
a  want  of  appreciation  of  our  individual  blessings 
and  opportunities  as  from  the  trend  of  modern 
teaching.  Not  only  the  stump  speaker,  the  lec- 
turer, and  the  magazine  writer,  but  a  good  per- 
cent of  college  professors  and  Protestant  preachers, 
teach,  by  inference  at  least,  and  some  openly,  that 
wjioever  gets  or  has   gotten  more   than   his   pro- 


62  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

rata  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the  world  has 
done  so  dishonestly  and  at  the  expense  of  his 
fellows. 

In  every  field  of  human  endeavor,  except  the 
acquisition  of  wealth,  we  make  due  allowance  for 
aptitude.  Since  the  world  was,  a  good  many  thou- 
sands have  tried  to  write  poetry.  Some  claim  that 
out  of  all  who  have  tried  two  have  succeeded. 
Some  increase  that  number.  All  we  know  is  that 
there  are  none  living  now,  though  I  heard  of  a 
man  who  said  he  could  write  as  good  poetry  as 
Shakespeare  did,  if  he  had  a  mind  to.  His  friends 
said  he  had  discovered  his  handicap.  Confiden- 
tially I  am  going  to  say  to  you  young  people  that 
I  might  have  made  as  much  money  as  John  D. 
Rockefeller  or  Andrew  Carnegie,  if  I  had  had  a 
mind  to.  I  have  had  the  opportunity,  and  I  will  also 
have  to  admit  that  I  have  had  the  desire.  If  I  did 
not  fully  understand  my  handicap,  I  might  be  angry 
with  these  gentlemen  who  had  the  mind  to. 

But  there  are  other  elements  which  enter  into 
the  equation  as  much  as  aptitude.  During  the 
political  campaign  in  1896,  when  all  audiences  con- 
tained a  goodly  number  of  Populists,  generally 
discernible  by  the  way  they  wore  their  hair  and 
beard,  a  man  was  speaking  at  Seattle.  After  hav- 
ing been  interrupted  several  times  by  one  of  these 
woolly  fellows,  his  tormentor  again  arose  and 
squealed  out :  "How  do  you  account  for  the  un- 
equal distribution  of  wealth?"  The  speaker  an- 
swered :  "How  do  you  account  for  the  unequal 
distribution  of  whiskers?" 


Winning  D eclamations-H oiv  to  Speak  Them    63 

Lest  you  shall  think  this  a  mere  figure,  let  me 
give  an  illustration  that  has  come  under  my  own 
observation.  I  once  knew  a  man  who  could  claim 
no  pride  of  ancestry.  He  was  not  over-fortunate 
in  his  physique,  and  his  environment  had  been  very 
ordinary.  At  nineteen  years  of  age  he  was  a  com- 
mon day  laborer,  as  honorable  as  anything,  but 
perhaps  less  desirable  than  some.  By  the  pre- 
mature discharge  of  a  cannon  one  Fourth  of  July 
morning  he  lost  his  right  hand  at  the  wrist  and 
his  left  hand  one-half  inch  in  front  of  the  thumb. 
While  awaiting  recovery  he  became  painfully  con- 
scious that  he  had  his  life  on  his  hands.  He 
started  to  get  an  education.  He  once  told  me  that 
he  had  threaded  his  own  needle  and  had  sewed  on 
his  own  buttons  with  a  naked  thumb  of  a  left 
hand.  They  called  him  judge  when  I  knew  him. 
He  died  president  of  a  bank  with  many  millions  on 
deposit.  God  grant,  my  friends,  that  it  may  not 
be  necessary  to  maim  or  cripple  you  that  you  may 
wake  up  to  the  possibilities  that  are  yours. 


Savannah's  Apple  of  Courage 
Louis  Victor  Ey tinge 

No  "flights  of  oratory"  would  be  suited  to  the  delivery  of  this 
declamation.  It  is  just  a  plain,  earnest  story  of  a  young  man  who 
made  good.  Make  your  delivery  direct,  earnest,  strong  talk,  with 
few    or   no   gestures. 

John  J.  Apple  graduated  from  Georgia  Institute 
of  Technology  in  June,  1907,  a  first  honor  elec- 
trical  engineer.     He   was  big,   broad,   happy  and 


64  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  The^n 

handsome,  and  faced  the  future  with  the  blithe 
bravery  of  youth.  Two  days  afterward  he  was 
sporting  in  the  surf  at  Savannah — made  a  dive 
and  broke  his  neck. 

Friends  carried  the  crumpled  cripple  to  the  hos- 
pital, where  it  was  found  that  he  was  completely 
paralyzed  from  his  neck  down.  After  a  time,  the 
family  took  him  to  New  York,  and  a  group  of  ten 
great  medical  men  shook  their  heads  and  gave  him 
less  than  a  year  to  live.  Jack  smiled  when  he  heard 
their  verdict  and  lustily  flashed  back,  "So  you  can't 
do  anything  for  me,  eh?  I'm  going  to  try  my 
best  to  outlive  the  most  of  you."  That  was  his 
defiance  to  fate,  and  he  is  winning  his  fight,  for 
five  of  those  Ten  Wise  Men  of  Gotham  sleep  in 
Greenwood  this  day. 

And  Jack — why  do  you  suppose  that  kind  of  a 
chap  would  content  himself  with  invalidism?  His 
brain  was  too  active  to  permit  of  idleness — som.e 
niche  would  have  to  be  created  for  him,  even  if 
dug  from  the  hardest  of  flint.  He  wanted  to  be 
self -supporting,  to  be  independent,  to  serve  society 
by  giving  his  quota  of  what  he  had  to  the  world's 
activities.  He  used  what  he  had  to  get  what  he 
wanted,  and  so  he  became  a  salesman ;  not  one  who 
might  from  his  invalid  couch  direct  the  selling  of 
some  mail-order  novelty,  but  a  real  up-and-down 
street  life  insurance  solicitor. 

One  advantage  was  his  during  the  time  he  was 
studying  for  his  future  work,  in  that  his  father 
had  been  a  general  agent  for  the  company  Jack 
joined.     Even   this  prop  was  soon  removed,   for 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    65 

the  father  passed  on  a  month  after  Jack  started — 
grief  at  his  son's  condition  had  broken  the  father's 
health.  Still  Jack  stuck  to  the  line  he  had  mapped 
out — and  this  is  how  he  went  about  it.  A  low 
wagonette  was  so  built  that  the  invalid  chair  could 
be  lifted  in  and  yet  have  room  to  spare.  Every 
day  a  darky  driver  brings  the  vehicle  to  Jack's  door 
and  tender  hands  trundle  him  out.  A  bright  youth 
whom  Jack  has  trained  acts  as  secretary,  errand 
boy  and  general  helper.  Sometimes  the  prospective 
customer  is  hailed  from  the  wagon  as  he  walks 
the  sidewalk,  more  often  the  young  secretary  runs 
up  to  Mr.  Busy  Man's  office,  brings  him  down 
and  seats  him  in  the  chair  beside  Jack's  bed.  Day 
after  day,  for  more  than  four  years  has  this  pro- 
gram been  followed  and  no  one  has  ever  heard 
a  whine  or  a  whimper  out  of  John  J.  Apple. 

He  is  unusually  bright,  unqualifiedly  a  success, 
wholly  good-natured,  and  mighty  opulent  in  his 
optimism.  He  shames  the  rest  of  the  selling  world 
when  he  gives  as  his  formula  for  success,  "Gaining 
knowledge  and  coupling  it  up  with  concentration 
and  persistence."  He  lives  up  to  the  line  I  found 
in  one  of  his  letters,  "These  three  words  mean 
more  to  me  than  a  whole  dictionary  of  others: 
Make  friends — smile." 

His  home  life  is  as  happy  as  his  business  work. 
There's  a  littling  printing  press  set  up  in  one  of 
his  rooms  and  the.  secretary  prints  Jack's  messages 
on  business,  good  will  and  human  helpfulness.  If 
you  were  to  see  his  proud  mother  kiss  her  boy 
good-night,   you'd   have    the    secret   of    it    all   ex- 


66  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

plained.  He  is  simply  a  good  mother's  splendid  son— 
and  his  mission  in  life  is  to  make  us  all  take  heart. 
Has  the  story  helped  you  a  little  bit?  Then  pass 
it  along  to  the  others  who  need  it. 


A  Plea  for  Prohibition 

Henry  W.  Grady 

Like  most  of  Grady's  speeches,  this  selection  is  charged  through- 
out with  strong  feeling.  It  is  therefore  all  the  more  necessary 
that  every  place  where  any  change  or  variety  is  possible  should  be 
utilized  to  break  up  a  general  monotony  in  delivery. 

The  liquor  traffic,  my  friends,  is  most  powerful, 
aggressive,  and  universal  in  its  attacks.  To-night 
it  enters  a  humble  home  to  strike  the  roses  from 
a  woman's  cheeks,  and  to-morrow  it  challenges  this 
Republic  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  To-day  it 
strikes  a  crust  from  the  lips  of  a  starving  child, 
and  to-morrow  levies  tribute  from  the  government 
itself.  There  is  no  cottage  in  this  city  humble 
enough  to  escape  it — no  palace  strong  enough  to 
shut  it  out.  It  defies  the  law  when  it  cannot  coerce 
suffrage.  It  is  flexible  to  cajole,  but  merciless 
in  victory.  It  is  the  mortal  enemy  of  peace  and 
order.  The  despoiler  of  men,  the  terror  of  women, 
the  cloud  that  shadows  the  face  of  children,  the 
demon  that  has  dug  more  graves  and  set  more 
souls  unshrived  to  judgment  than  all  the  pestilence 
that  have  wasted  life  since  God  sent  the  plagues 
to  Egypt,  and  all  the  wars  that  have  been  fought 
since  Joshua  stood  beyond  Jericho.  Oh,  my  coun- 
trymen, loving  God   and  humanity,   do  not  bring 


Winning  D eclamations-H ow  to  Speak  Them    67 

this  grand  old  city  again  under  the  dominion  of 
that  power.  It  can  profit  no  man  by  its  return. 
It  can  uplift  no  industry,  revive  no  interest,  remedy 
no  wrong.  You  know  that  it  cannot.  It  comes  to 
destroy,  and  it  shall  profit  mainly  by  the  ruin  of 
your  sons  or  mine.  It  comes  to  mislead  human 
souls  and  to  crush  human  hearts  under  its  rumbling 
wheels.  It  comes  to  change  the  wife's  love  into 
despair,  and  her  pride  into  shame.  It  comes  to 
still  the  laughter  on  the  lips  of  little  children. 
It  comes  to  stifle  all  the  music  of  the  home  and 
fill  it  with  silence  and  desolation.  It  comes  to  ruin 
your  body  and  mind,  to  wreck  your  home,  and  it 
knows  it  must  measure  its  prosperity  by  the  swift- 
ness and  certainty  with  which  it  wrecks  this  work. 
If  you  are  in  doubt  about  what  you  should  do, 
give  us  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  Give  the  doubt  to 
the  churches  of  this  city  that  stand  unbroken  in 
this  cause.  Give  the  doubt  to  the  prayers  that 
ascend  nightly  for  this  cause  from  the  women  and 
children — prayers  uttered  so  silently  that  you  can- 
not catch  their  whispered  utterance,  but  so  sin- 
cerely that  they  speed  their  soft  entreaty  through 
the  singing  hosts  of  heaven  into  the  heart  of  the 
living  God.  If  you  are  in  doubt  as  to  what  your 
duty  is,  turn  for  this  once  to  your  old  mother, 
whose  gray  hairs  shall  plead  with  you  as  nothing 
else  should — remember  how  she  has  loved  you  all 
her  life  and  how  her  heart  yearns  for  you  now. 
Take  her  old  hand  in  yours,  look  into  her  eyes 
fearlessly  as  you  did  when  you  were  a  barefoot 
boy,  and  say,  'T  have  run  my  politics  all  my  life. 


68  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

and  to-day  I  am  going  to  give  one  vote  for  you. 
How  shall  I  cast  it?"  Watch  the  tears  start  from 
her  shining  eyes,  feel  that  lump  rising  in  your 
throat,  and  tell  me  if  that  is  not  better  than  your 
so-called  "personal  liberty." 


Love  Your  Farm 

This  selection  is  adapted  from  an  editorial  in  The  Progressive 
Farmer,  and  since  used  as  a  declamation  in  numerous  schools.  If  a 
speaker  can  eulogize  a  man  or  country  of  which  he  has  only  second- 
hand knowledge,  the  boy  reared  on  the  farm  can  surely  speak  a 
eulogy  on  what  he  knows  and  loves  through  direct  contact.  Sus- 
tained earnestness  and  enthusiasm  will  cause  your  hearers  to  ap- 
preciate and  feel  the  thoughts  and  sentiments  contained  in  this 
splendid  eulogy  of  the  Farm. 

Every  farmer  should  love  his  Mrork  even  as  the 
artist  loves  his  v^ork,  and  every  farmer  should 
love  his  farm  itself  as  he  would  love  a  favorite 
horse  or  dog.  He  should  know  every  rod  of  the 
ground,  should  know  just  what  each  acre  is  best 
adapted  to,  should  feel  a  joy  and  pride  in  having 
every  hill  and  valley  look  its  best,  and  should  be 
as  much  ashamed  to  have  a  field  scarred  with 
gullies  as  he  would  be  to  have  a  beautiful  colt 
marked  with  lashes;  as  much  ashamed  to  have  a 
piece  of  ground  worn  out  from  ill-treatment  as  to 
have  a  horse  gaunt  and  bony  from  neglect;  as 
much  hurt  at  seeing  his  acres  sick  from  wretched 
management  as  he  would  be  at  seeing  his  cows 
half  starving  from  the  same  cause. 

Love  your  ground — that  piece  of  God's  creation 
which  you  hold  in  fee  simple.  Fatten  its  poorer 
parts  as  carefully  as  you  would  nurture  an  ailing 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    69 

collie.  Heal  the  washed,  torn  places  in  the  hillside 
as  you  would  the  barb-scars  on  your  pony.  Feed 
with  legumes  and  soiling  crops  and  fertilizers  the 
galled  and  barren  patch  that  needs  special  atten- 
tion; nurse  it  back  to  life  and  beauty  and  fruitful- 
ness.  Make  a  meadow  of  the  bottom  that  is  in- 
clined to  wash;  watch  it  and  care  for  it  until  the 
kindly  root-masses  heal  every  gaping  wound,  and 
in  one  unbroken  surface  the  "tides  of  grass  break 
into  foam  of  flowers"  upon  the  outer  edges.  Don't 
forget  even  the  forest  lands.  See  that  every  acre 
of  woodland  has  trees  enough  on  it  to  make  it 
profitable:  "a  good  stand"  of  the  timber  crop  as 
well  as  of  every  other  crop.  Have  an  eye  to  the 
beautiful  in  laying  off  the  cleared  fields — a  tree 
here  and  there,  but  no  wretched  beggar's  coat  min- 
gling of  little  patches  and  little  rents :  rather  broad 
fields  fully  tended  and  of  as  nearly  uniform 
fertility  as  possible,  making  of  your  growing  crops, 
as  it  were,  each  a  beautiful  garment,  whole  and 
unbroken,  to  clothe  the  fruitful  acres  which  God 
has  given  you  to  keep  and  tend  even  as  He  gave 
the  First  Garden  into  the  keeping  of  our  first 
parents. 

Love  your  farm.  If  you  cannot  be  proud  of 
it  now,  begin  to-day  to  make  it  a  thing  you  can 
be  proud  of.  Much  dignity  has  come  to  you  in 
that  you  are  owner  and  care-keeper  for  a  part  of 
God's  footstool:  show  yourself  worthy  of  that  dig- 
nity. Watch  earnestly  over  every  acre.  Let  no 
day  go  by  that  you  do  not  add  something  of  come- 
liness   and   potential    fertility    to    its    fields.      And 


70  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

finally,  leave  some  spot  beneath  the  shade  of  some 
giant  tree  where  at  last,  "like  as  a  shock  of  corn 
Cometh  in  his  season,"  you  can  lay  down  your 
weary  body,  leaving  the  world  a  little  better  for 
your  having  lived  in  it,  and  earning  the  approval 
from  the  Great  Father  (who  made  the  care  of 
fields  and  gardens  the  first  task  given  man)  :  "Well 
done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant:  enter  into 
the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

Pumpkin  Pie 

This  is  an  extract  from  an  article  in  the  Independent,  December 
4,  1914.  A  eulogy  on  pumpkin  pie!  One  might  think  this  no  fit 
subject  for  a  eulog^y,  but  if  you  speak  this  naturally — 'talk  it — and 
at  the  same  time  with  earnestness  and  enthusiasm,  you  will  find  a 
responsive   chord   in   almost   any   audience. 

There  are  some  things  in  Nature  just  right,  if 
in  the  right  spot;  and  one  of  these  is  pumpkin  pie. 
You  should  know  all  about  the  pumpkin  just  as 
much  as  you  should  be  well  acquainted  with  Indian 
corn.  They  have  grown  together  so  long  that  one 
of  them  alone  seems  lonesome;  but  when  the  corn 
is  all  cut,  and  the  stocks  are  crispy  in  the  wind,  and 
farmer  boys  are  sitting  around  them  to  strip  the 
golden  ears,  what  would  one  do  without  pumpkins 
to  sit  on  ?  It  is  the  pie,  however,  that  we  are  after, 
and  how  in  the  world  can  such  a  delicious  affair  be 
made  out  of  a  gourd  ? — for  the  pumpkin  is  nothing 
in  the  world  but  a  gourd — glorified.  Every  sort  of 
plant  has  a  special  fitness  above  all  others.  It  is 
so  with  folks  also ;  and  as  for  companionship,  what 
could  be  finer  than  this  of  our  two  gifts  from  the 
Indians  ? 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    71 

But  you  must  find  the  right  woman  to  mix  and 
cook  it — that  is,  the  pie.  It  is  like  ginger  cookies; 
not  too  much  ginger ;  not  too  little !  and  the  same 
with  the  sugar;  and  after  that  if  you  stir  the  mix- 
ture just  once  too  many  times  you  spoil  the  cookies. 
Nobody  can  tell  why,  only  it  is  so.  But  the  pump- 
kin pie  must  have  a  bracing  charge  of  ginger,  and 
sugar  enough  to  be  really  sweet  in  the  raw ;  and 
as  for  milk !  our  word  for  it,  don't  try  condensed 
milk;  and  one  more  thing,  don't  try  making  just 
one  pie.  We  have  never  known  stinginess  to  work 
well  with  pumpkins. 

After  the  pies  are  baked,  set  them  in  a  row, 
always  on  the  second  shelf  in  the  pantry,  and  let 
them  ripen.  Nothing  is  perfect  when  green,  least 
of  all  a  pumpkin  pie.  They  are  best  on  the  second 
day,  and  not  much  different  on  the  third,  and  are 
still  good  on  the  fourth;  only  let  one  pie,  as  soon 
as  out  of  the  oven,  be  set  on  a  big,  broad  shelf  by 
the  window,  and  on  it  a  suggestive  knife,  of  silver, 
and  ask  no  questions.  If  it  is  not  there  on  the 
morrow,  why  those  on  the  second  shelf  remain ; 
and  is  not  gratitude  from  a  whole  family  as  good 
as  a  pumpkin  pie,  any  time? 

We  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  growling  about 
the  world,  from  time  to  time,  and  from  folk  who 
ought  to  know  better;  yet  it  is  no  wonder  when  all 
the  domestic  arts  are  lost  arts,  and  when  there  is 
no  Wendell  Phillips  left  to  rehearse  their  golden 
days.  But  all  this  is  nonsense,  when  one  may 
easily  have  a  big  cornfield,  with  the  corn  all  husked 
and  in  the  bin,  and  yet  the  field  covered  with  two 


"^2  Wxnmng  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

thousand  pumpkins,  the  color  of  red  gold,  and 
every  one  of  them  crying  out  Take  me,  take  me! 
Enough?  Yes,  it  is  one  of  the  few  things  of  which 
Nature  creates  a  surplus ;  enough  to  use  up  four 
quarts  of  Jersey  milk,  although  it  is  the  pumpkin 
itself  that  has  made  the  Jersey  milk  so  golden; 
enough  also  for  boys  to  make  jack-o-lanterns  on 
Halloween ;  enough  more  for  seats  when  the  husk- 
ing bees  gather  the  farmers ;  and  then  enough  for 
pies  for  every  day  as  long  as  the  snow  quilts  lie 
on  th»e  meadows,  and  enough  for  the  uncles  and 
aunts  in  town. 

The  Child  of  the  Alamo 

Guy  M.  Bryan 

Note  that  the  first  paragraph  is  merely  introductory.  Give  this 
in  a  conversational  manner,  so  your  hearers  will  know  what  you  are 
talking  about.  Beginning  the  second  paragraph  the  rate  should  be 
slower,  with  lower  key  and  increased  force,  which  should  be  main- 
tained to  the  end. 

In  the  session  of  the  Texas  Legislature  of  1852 
a  bill  was  introduced  for  an  appropriation  of  money 
to  care  for  and  educate  the  child  of  Lieutenant 
Dickinson,  who  fell  in  the  Alamo.  Several  mem- 
bers spoke  in  opposition  to  the  bill,  claiming  that 
as  Texas  was  deep  in  debt  no  public  money  should 
be  appropriated  to  private  parties.  There  was  a 
rule  of  the  House  that  when  the  ayes  and  noes 
were  called  a  member,  before  voting,  could  give 
reasons  for  his  vote.  When  the  name  of  Hon. 
Guy  M.  Bryan  was  called,  he  spoke  as  follows: 

"I  intended,   Mr.   Speaker,  to   remain  silent  on 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    73 

this  occasion,  but  silence  now  would  be  a  reproach, 
when  to  speak  is  a  duty.  No  one  has  raised  a 
voice  in  behalf  of  this  orphan  child — several  have 
spoken  against  her  claim.  I  rise,  sir,  an  advocate 
of  no  common  cause.  Liberty  was  its  foundation — 
heroism  and  martyrdom  have  consecrated  it.  I 
speak  for  the  Orphan  Child  of  the  Alamo !  No 
orphan  children  of  fallen  patriots  can  send  a  simi- 
lar petition  to  this  House — none  other  can  say,  I 
am  the  Child  of  the  Alamo! 

"Well  do  I  remember  the  consternation  that 
spread  throughout  the  land  when  the  sad  tidings 
reached  our  ears  that  the  Alamo  had  fallen !  It 
was  here  tTiat  a  gallant  few,  'the  bravest  of  the 
brave,'  threw  themselves  between  the  enemy  and 
the  settlements,  determined  'never  to  surrender  nor 
retreat.'  They  redeemed  their  pledge  to  Texas 
with  the  forfeit  of  their  lives — they  fell,  the  chosen 
sacrifice  to  Texas  freedom.  Texas,  unapprised  of 
the  approach  of  the  invader,  was  sleeping  in  fan- 
cied security,  when  the  Attila  of  the  South  was 
near.  Infuriated  by  the  resistance  of  Travis  and 
his  noble  band,  he  halted  his  whole  army  beneath 
the  wall  and  rolled  wave  after  wave  of  his  numer- 
ous host  against  those  stern  battlements  of  free- 
dom. In  vain  he  strove:  the  flag  of  Liberty,  the 
flag  of  1824,  still  streamed  out  upon  the  breeze,  and 
floated  proudly  from  the  outer  wall;  maddened,  he 
pitched  his  tents  and  reared  his  batteries,  and 
finally  stormed  and  took  a  black  and  ruined  mass — 
the  blood-stained  walls  of  the  Alamo — the  noble, 
the  martyred  spirits  of  every  one  of  its  defenders 


74  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

had  already  taken  their  flight  to  another  fortress 
not  made  with  hands. 

"This  detention  of  the  enemy  enabled  Texas  to 
recuperate  her  energies,  to  prepare  for  that  struggle 
in  which  freedom  was  the  prize,  and  slavery  the 
forfeit.  It  enabled  her  to  assemble  upon  the  Col- 
orado that  gallant  band  which  eventually  tri- 
umphed upon  the  plains  of  San  Jacinto,  and  rolled 
back  the  tide  of  war  upon  the  ruthless  invader. 

"But  for  this  stand  at  the  Alamo,  Texas  would 
have  been  desolated  to  the  banks  of  the  Sabine. 
Then,  sir,  in  view  of  these  facts,  I  ask  of  this 
House  to  vote  the  pittance  prayed  for.  To  whom? 
To  the  only  living  Texas  witness  (save  her  mother) 
of  the  awful  tragedy — 'the  bloodiest  picture  in  the 
book  of  time,'  and  the  bravest  act  that  ever  swelled 
the  annals  of  any  country. 

"Grant  this  boon !  She  claims  it  as  a  christened 
child  of  the  Alamo,  baptized  in  the  blood  of  a 
Travis,  a  Bowie,  a  Crockett,  and  a  Bonham ! 

"It  would  be  a  shame  to  Texas  to  turn  her  away. 
Give  her  what  she  asks,  in  order  that  she  may  be 
educated  and  become  a  worthy  child  of  the  State, 
and  take  that  position  in  society  to  which  she  is 
entitled  by  the  illustrious  name  of  her  martyred 
father — made  illustrious  because  he  fell  in  the 
Alamo." 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    75 

Nothing  to  do  but  Work 

The  Caxton  Magacine 

Here  is  another  straightfrom-the-shoulder  talk,  in  modern  style. 
Speak  it  accordingly.  Let  the  style  of  delivery  be  simply  direct, 
•arnest,  strong  talk. 

There  are  times  when  it  seems  as  though  Hfe 
was  just  one  prosaic  thing  after  another.  Nothing 
appears  to  be  worth  while,  and  we  don't  just  see 
what  more  we  can  do  to  hasten  things  along.  At 
such  times  we  chant  with  Ben  King:  "Nothing 
to  do  but  work,  nothing — ,"  et  cetera.  When  we 
have  allowed  ourselves  to  drift  into  this  state  of 
mind,  we  shirk  the  work  at  hand,  and  thus  make 
things  even  more  disagreeable  both  for  ourselves 
and  others. 

Man  must  work — that  is  inevitable.  If  he  goes 
at  it  with  the  spirit  of  "Nothing  to  do  but  work," 
he  will  never  be  able  to  choose  his  task.  He  may 
work  grudgingly  or  he  may  work  gratefully ;  but 
work  he  must.  When  we  are  in  doubt,  the  best 
solution  is  to  push  harder  than  ever.  No  proposi- 
tion can  succeed  without  the  concentrated  push  that 
knows  no  let  up.  The  steady  driving  along  one 
line,  at  one  goal,  cannot  help  but  break  down  all 
obstacles.  What  most  of  us  lack  is  the  patience  to 
pull  us  through  the  lull  and  lag.  Many  a  man  loses 
years  of  momentum  by  a  change  at  a  time  when 
things  looked  doubtful  to  him. 

There  is  no  work  so  prosaic  that  we  cannot  get 
some  pleasure  out  of  it,  if  we  will  only  find  out 
the  best  way  of  doing  it.    The  man  who  pities  him- 


'](>  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

self  because  he  has  to  work,  and  shirks  from  grap- 
pHng  the  waiting  task,  is  in  for  a  hard  time  in 
accompHshing  anything  or  becoming  anybody  worth 
while.  Some  men  are  ground  down  on  the  grind- 
stone of  life,  while  others  get  polished  up.  Every 
man  does  one  thing  or  the  other,  he  either  takes 
on  a  polish  or  he  wears  away — it  all  depends  on 
the  stuff  he  is  made  of.  In  his  "Sum  of  Life," 
Ben  King  ends  with: 

"Nothing  to  strike  but  a  gait — 
Everything  moves  that  goes ; 
Nothing  at  all  but  common  sense 
Can  ever  withstand  our  vv^oes." 

If  there  is  one  man  who  can  be  proud  of  him- 
self, it  is  he  who  applied  for  a  "job"  with  the 
company,  who  without  introduction  or  influence, 
without  "pull"  or  favor  has  worked  his  way  to  a 
position  of  responsibility.  If  there  is  one  man  who 
should  keep  his  pride  in  his  pocket,  it  is  he  who 
holds  his  position  because  his  uncle,  or  his  cousin 
or  his  aunt  has  a  "drag"  with  the  controlling  in- 
terests. 


Winning  Dcdamations-How  to  Speak  Them    yy 

Love  and  Loyalty  of  the  Negro 
Henry  W.  Grady 

This  eulogy  of  the  negro  of  slavery  times  requires  a  sympathetic 
appreciation  of  that  period  in  American  history.  This  declamation 
is  strongly  emotional,  and  should  be  studied  with  a  view  of  ap- 
preciating and  expressing  the  peculiar  emotion  that  dominates  the 
different  paragraphs.  The  second  paragraph,  for  example,  requires 
a  slower  rate  and  a  different  tone  from  that  required  for  the  first 
part  of  the  third  paragraph.  That  is,  aim  to  use  the  appropriate 
"tone-color"   for  each  picture  presented. 

The  love  the  people  of  the  South  feel  to  the 
negro  race  cannot  be  comprehended  nor  measured 
by  the  people  of  the  North.  As  I  attest  it  here, 
the  spirit  of  my  old  black  mammy  from  her  home 
up  there  looks  down  to  bless ;  and  through  the 
tumult  of  this  night  steals  the  sweet  music  of  her 
croonings  as  in  years  agone  when  she  held  me  in 
her  black  arms  and  led  me  smiling  in  to  sleep. 

The  scene  vanishes  as  I  speak,  and  I  catch  a 
vision  of  an  old  Southern  home  with  its  lofty 
pillars,  and  its  white  pigeons  fluttering  down 
through  the  golden  air.  I  see  women  with  strained 
and  anxious  faces,  and  children  alert  yet  helpless. 
I  see  night  come  down  with  its  dangers  and  ap- 
prehensions, and  in  a  big,  homely  room  I  feel  on 
my  tired  head  the  touch  of  loving  hands — now 
worn  and  wrinkled,  but  fairer  to  me  yet  than  the 
hands  of  mortal  woman,  and  stronger  yet  to  lead 
me  than  the  hands  of  mortal  man — as  they  lay  a 
mother's  blessing  there ;  while  at  her  knees — the 
truest  altar  I  yet  have  found — I  thank  God  that 
she  is  in  her  sanctuary  safe  because  her  slaves, 
sentinel  in  the  silent  cabin,  or  guard  at  her  chamber 


78  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

door,  put  a  black  man's  loyalty  between  her  and 
danger. 

I  catch  another  vision.  The  crisis  of  battle — a 
soldier,  struck,  staggering,  fallen.  I  see  a  slave 
scuffling  through  the  smoke,  winding  his  black 
arms  about  the  fallen  form,  reckless  of  hurtling 
death,  bending  his  trusty  face  to  catch  the  words 
that  tremble  on  the  stricken  lips, — so  wrestling 
meantime  with  agony  that  he  would  lay  down  his 
life  in  his  master's  stead.  I  see  him  by  the  weary 
bedside,  ministering  with  uncomplaining  patience, 
praying  with  all  his  humble  heart  that  God  will 
lift  his  master  up  until  death  comes  in  mercy  and 
in  honor  to  still  the  soldier's  agony  and  seal  the 
soldier's  life. 

I  see  him  by  the  open  grave,  mute,  motionless, 
uncovered,  suffering  for  the  death  of  him  who  in 
life  fought  against  his  freedom.  I  see  him  when 
the  mound  is  heaped  and  the  great  drama  of  that 
life  has  closed,  turn  away  and  with  downcast  eye 
and  uncertain  step  start  out  into  new  and  strange 
fields,  faltering,  struggling,  but  moving  on,  until 
his  shambling  figure  is  lost  in  the  light  of  this 
better  and  brighter  day.  And  from  the  grave 
comes  a  voice  saying,  "Follow  him !  Put  your 
arms  about  him  in  his  need,  even  as  he  put  his 
about  me.  Be  his  friend  as  he  was  mine !"  And 
out  into  this  new  world — strange  to  me  as  it  is  to 
him,  dazzling,  bewildering — I  follow.  And  may 
God  forget  my  people  when  they  forget  these! 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    79 

New  England's  Fairest  Boast 
S.  S.  Prentiss 

To  "enter  into  the  spirit"  of  this  speech,  have  and  keep  in  mind 
some  country  or  village  school  which  you  know  of  personally;  for 
what  is  true  of  a  New  England  school  is  also  true  of  any  public 
school,  and  the  plan  suggested  will  make  a  concrete  application  of  and 
"visualize"  the  thought  for  the  more  effective  expression. 

Behold  yon  simple  building  near  the  crossing  of 
the  village  road.  It  is  small  and  of  rude  construc- 
tion, but  it  stands  in  a  pleasant  and  quiet  spot.  A 
magnificent  old  elm  spreads  its  broad  arms  above, 
and  seems  to  lean  towards  it  as  a  strong  man  bends 
to  shelter  and  protect  a  child.  A  brook  runs 
through  the  meadow  near,  and  hard  by  there  is  an 
orchard;  but  the  trees  have  suffered  much,  for 
there  is  no  fruit  except  upon  the  highest  and  most 
inaccessible  branches.  From  within  its  walls  comes 
a  busy  hum,  such  as  you  may  hear  in  a  disturbed 
beehive.  Now  peep  through  yonder  windows  and 
you  will  see  a  hundred  children  with  rosy  cheeks, 
mischievous  eyes  and  demure  faces,  all  engaged, 
or  pretending  to  be  so,  in  their  little  lessons.  It 
is  the  public  school,  the  free,  the  common  school, 
provided  by  law,  open  to  all,  claimed  from  the 
community  as  a  right,  not  accepted  as  a  bounty. 
Here  the  children  of  the  rich  and  poor,  high  and 
low,  meet  upon  perfect  equality,  and  commence, 
under  the  same  auspices,  the  race  of  life.  Here 
the  sustenance  of  the  mind  is  served  to  all  alike, 
as  the  Spartans  served  their  food  upon  the  public 
table.  Here  young  Ambition  climbs  his  little  lad- 
der,   and    boyish    Genius   plumes    his    half-fledged 


So  Winning  Declarnations-Hoiv  to  Speak  Tlicm 

wings.  From  among  these  laughing  children  will 
go  forth  the  men  who  are  to  control  the  destinies 
of  their  age  and  country;  the  statesman,  whose 
wisdom  is  to  guide  the  senate ;  the  poet,  who  will 
take  captive  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  bind  them 
together  with  immortal  song;  the  philosopher,  who 
boldly  seizing  upon  the  elements  themselves,  will 
compel  them  to  his  wishes,  and  through  new  com- 
binations of  their  primal  laws,  by  some  great  dis- 
covery, revolutionize  both  art  and  science. 

The  common  village  school  is  New  England's 
fairest  boast,  the  brightest  jewel  that  adorns  her 
brow.  The  principle,  that  society  is  bound  to  pro- 
vide for  its  members'  education,  so  that  none  may 
be  ignorant  except  from  choice,  is  the  most  im- 
portant that  belongs  to  modern  philosophy.  It  is 
essential  to  a  republican  government.  Universal 
education  is  not  only  the  best  and  the  surest,  but 
the  only  sure  foundation  for  free  institutions. 
True  Liberty  is  the  child  of  Knowledge,  she  pines 
away  and  dies  in  the  arms  of  Ignorance.  Honor, 
then,  to  the  early  fathers  of  New  England,  from 
whom  came  the  spirit  which  has  built  a  school- 
house  by  every  sparkling  fountain,  and  bids  all 
come  as  freely  to  the  one  as  the  other! 


Winning  D eclamations-H oiv  to  Speak  Them    8i 

The  Way  to  Wealth 

Benjamin  Franklin 

The  talking  or  colloquial  style  is  the  most  fitting  for  the  delivery 
of  this  selection.  It  is  valuable  for  memorizing  because  it  will  fix 
in  mind  the  famous  proverbs  and  sayings  of  "Poor  Richard." 

I  STOPPED  my  horse,  lately,  where  a  great  number 
of  people  were  collected  at  an  auction  of  merchants' 
goods.  The  hour  of  the  sale  not  being  come,  they 
were  conversing  on  the  badness  of  the  times;  and 
one  of  the  company  called  to  a  plain,  clean  old  man, 
with  white  locks :  "Pray,  Father  Abraham,  what 
think  you  of  the  times?  Will  not  tliese  heavy 
taxes  quite  ruin  the  country?  How  shall  we  ever 
be  able  to  pay  them?  What  would  you  advise  us 
to  do?"  > 

Father  Abraham  stood  up  and  replied:  "If  you 
would  have  my  advice,  I  will  give  it  to  you  in 
short;  for  'a  word  to  the  wise  is  enough,'  as  poor 
Richard  says."  They  joined  in  desiring  him  to 
speak  his  mind,  and,  gathering  around  him,  he 
proceeded  as  follows :  "Friends,"  said  h^,  "the 
taxes  are  indeed  very  heavy;  and,  if  those  laid  on 
by  the  Government  were  the  only  ones  we  had  to 
pay,  we  might  more  easily  discharge  them ;  but  we 
have  many  others,  and  much  more  grievous  to  some 
of  us. 

"We  are  taxed  twice  as  much  by  our  idleness, 
three  times  as  much  by  our  pride,  and  four  times 
as  much  by  our  folly ;  and  of  these  taxes  the  com- 
missioners can  not  ease  or  deliver  us  by  allowing 
an  abatement.     However,  let  us  hearken  to  good 


82  Winning  D eclamations-H our  to  Speak  Them 

advice,  and  something  may  be  done  for  us. 
'Heaven  helps  them  that  help  themselves,'  as  poor 
Richard  says. 

"It  would  be  thought  a  hard  government  that 
should  tax  its  people  one-tenth  part  of  their  time  to 
be  employed  in  its  service;  but  idleness  taxes  many 
of  us  much  more ;  sloth,  by  bringing  on  diseases, 
absolutely  shortens  life.  'Sloth,  like  rust,  con- 
sumes faster  than  labor  wears;  while  the  used  key 
is  always  bright,'  as  Poor  Richard  says.  How 
much  more  than  is  necessary  do  we  spend  in  sleep ! 
forgetting  that  'the  sleeping  fox  catches  no  poultry,' 
and  that  there  will  be  sleeping  enough  in  the  grave. 

"  'Lost  time  is  never  found  again ;  and  what  we 
call  time  enough,  always  proves  little  enough.'  Let 
us,  then,  be  up  and  doing,  and  doing  to  the  purpose; 
so  by  diligence  shall  we  do  more  with  less  per- 
plexity. 'Drive  thy  business,  and  let  not  that  drive 
thee' ;  and  'early  to  bed,  and  early  to  rise,  makes  a 
man  healthy,  wealthy  and  wise,'  as'  Poor  Richard 
says. 

"So,  what  signifies  wishing  and  hoping  for  better 
times?  We  may  make  these  times  better  if  we  be- 
stir ourselves.  'Industry  need  not  wish,  and  he  that 
lives  upon  hopes  will  die  fasting.'  'There  are  no 
gains  without  pains ;  then  help  hands,  for  I  have  no 
lands.'  'He  that  hath  a  trade,  hath  an  estate;  and 
he  that  hath  a  calling,  hath  an  office,  hath  an  office 
of  profit  and  honor' ;  but  then  the  trade  must  be 
worked  at,  and  the  calling  well  followed,  or  neither 
the  estate  nor  the  office  will  enable  us  to  pay  our 
taxes.     Work   while   it   is   called   to-day,    for  you 


Winning  D eclamations-H ow  to  Speak  Them    83 

know  not  how  much  you  may  be  hindered  to-mor- 
row. 'One  to-day  is  worth  two  to-morrows,'  as 
Poor  Richard  says;  and  further,  'Never  leave  that 
till  to-morrow  which  you  can  do  to-day.' " 


"My  Kingdom  for  a  Horse" 

John  W.  Springer 

Make  the  introduction  to  the  speech  really  introductory.  In 
beginning  the  speech  proper,  the  conversational  style  on  opening 
should  change  to  the  more  formal,  with  somewhat  slower  rate  and 
more  force,  both  rate  and  force  changing  with  the  changing  thoughts 
and  emotions. 

When  Cresceus,  the  famous  trotter,  was  making 
his  tour  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Springer  was 
invited  to  "introduce"  the  horse  to  ten  thousand 
people  who  had  assembled  at  the  Overland  Park 
grounds.     He  did  it  as  follows : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  It  is  a  very  great 
pleasure  to  present  to  you  the  king  of  American 
trotters,  the  matchless  Cresceus.  He  is  owned, 
was  bred  and  is  driven  by  a  gentleman  from  the 
Buckeye  State,  Mr.  George  H.  Ketcham. 

The  twentieth  century  American  loves  to  see  the 
best,  to  own  the  best  of  everything.  We  all  pay 
our  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  the  noblest  animal 
bestowed  upon  man — the  horse.  He  is  typical  to- 
day of  our  advanced  civilization.  He  has  kept  pace 
with  progressive  individuality  in  the  equine  world. 
He  fills  his  sphere  so  completely  that  all  the  bi- 
cycles, all  the  automobiles,  and  all  the  street  cars 
will    never    drive    him    into    exile.      Where    men, 


84  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

women  and  children  dwell,  there  will  this  noble 
creature  ever  abide. 

He  will  journey  with  us  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave.  He  will  caper  along  with  the  young  folks, 
and  bring  up  at  the  church  door,  where  wedding 
bells  tell  of  happy  hearts  and  new-made  homes. 
He  will  trot  along  with  carriage  loads  of  happy 
little  folks,  whose  life  is  a  song  and  whose  presence 
is  a  joy  forever.  He  will  set  the  pace  for  the 
hounds  who  are  away  at  the  sound  of  the  hunter's 
horn,  over  hill  and  vale,  over  field  and  meadow, 
always  the  most  enthusiastic  of  the  throng  of 
sportsmen.  He  loves  to  hear  the  crack  of  the 
whip  and  go  bounding  away  with  the  coach  and 
four,  and  the  jolly  crowd  whose  chief  pleasure 
is  in  coaching  parties  and  outings  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  along  the  rivers.  He  is  with  us  in 
prosperity  and  adversity,  and  that  man  or  woman 
is  an  attenuated  specimen  of  humanity  who  does 
not  love  this  matchless  animal.  No  wonder  King 
Richard  HI  exclaimed :  "A  horse !  A  horse ! 
My  kingdom  for  a  horse!" 

So  it  is  my  friends,  the  horse  is  always  a  part 
of  our  pleasure,  and  at  last,  when  the  long 
shadows  have  fallen  over  us,  and  our  eyes  are 
heavy  with  the  last  sleep,  the  horse  carefully 
draws  our  remains  to  the  silent  city  and  all  is  over. 

In  behalf  of  the  management  of  the  Overland 
Racing  Association  and  of  the  members  of  the 
Driving  and  Riding  Club  of  Denver,  and  on  be- 
half of  the  thousands  of  enthusiastic  citizens  of 
Colorado,    I   bid   the   king   of   trotters — the   great 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    85 

Cresceus — welcome,  thrice  welcome,  to  the  track  of 
this  association. 

One  and  all,  we  wish  you  "good  speed." 

Man's  Best  Friend — His  Dog 
George  G.  Vest 

Following;  is  one  of  the  most  famous  speeches  ever  made  by  the 
late  Senator  Vest,  of  Missouri.  It  was  delivered  as  part  of  a  plea 
to  the  jury  in  the  trial  of  a  man  who  had  unwantonly  shot  a  dog 
belonging  to  a  neighbor.  Note  that  the  last  sentence  of  the  first 
paragraph  of  this  speech  is  a  climax,  and  that  the  last  word  is  the 
climax  of  the  sentence.  After  a  pause  and  change  upon  beginning  the 
second  paragraph,  the  remainder  of  the  speech  is  uniformly  strong  in 
sentiment  and  feeling. 

The  best  friend  a  man  has  in  this  world  may 
turn  against  him  and  become  his  enemy.  His  son 
or  daughter  that  he  has  reared  with  loving  care 
may  prove  ungrateful.  Those  who  are  nearest  and 
dearest  to  us,  those  whom  we  trust  with  our  hap- 
piness and  our  good  name,  may  become  traitors 
to  our  faith.  The  money  that  a  man  has  he  may 
lose.  It  flies  away  from  him,  perhaps  when  he 
needs  it  most.  A  man's  reputation  may  be  sacri- 
ficed in  a  moment  of  ill-considered  action.  The 
people  who  are  prone  to  fall  to  their  knees  to  do 
us  honor  when  success  is  with  us  may  be  the  first 
to  throw  the  stone  when  failure  settles  its  cloud 
upon  our  heads.  The  one  absolutely  unselfish 
friend  that  man  can  have  in  this  selfish  world,  the 
one  that  never  deserts  him,  the  one  that  never 
proves  ungrateful  or  treacherous,  is  his  dog. 

A  man's  dog  stands  by  him  in  prosperity  and  In 
poverty,  in  health  and  in  sickness.     He  will  sleep 


86  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Th^m 

on  the  cold  ground,  where  the  wintry  winds  blow 
and  the  snow  drives  fiercely,  if  only  he  may  be 
near  his  master's  side.  He  will  kiss  the  hand  that 
has  no  food  to  offer,  he  will  lick  the  wounds  and 
sores  that  come  in  encounter  with  the  roughness 
of  the  world.  He  guards  the  sleep  of  his  pauper 
master  as  if  he  were  a  prince.  When  all  other 
friends  desert,  he  remains.  When  riches  take 
wings  and  reputation  falls  to  pieces,  he  is  as  con- 
stant in  his  love  as  the  sun  in  its  journey  through 
the  heavens.  If  fortune  drives  the  master  forth 
an  outcast  in  the  world,  friendless  and  homeless, 
the  faithful  dog  asks  no  higher  privilege  than  that 
of  accompanying  him  to  guard  against  danger,  to 
fight  against  his  enemies,  and  when  the  last  scene 
of  all  comes,  and  death  takes  the  master  in  its 
embrace  and  his  body  is  laid  away  in  the  cold 
ground,  no  matter  if  all  other  friends  pursue  their 
way,  there  by  his  graveside  will  the  noble  dog  be 
found,  his  head  between  his  paws,  his  eyes  sad 
but  open  in  alert  watchfulness,  faithful  and  true 
even  to  death. 

The  Coyote 

Mark  Twain 

The  pupil  who  has  become  acquainted  with  the  coyote — and  none 
other  should  try  to  speak  this  selection — will  see  how  true  to  life 
the  picture  is  drawn.  The  sly  humor  in  the  piece  should  not  be 
missed  either  by  the  speaker  or  his  audience.  Study  especially  the 
closing  paragraph  to  see  how  much  more  effective  the  delivery  can 
be  made  if  you  observe  proper  pauses  and  changes  both  in  rate  and 
in  tone. 

The  coyote  of  the  western  prairies  and  deserts  is 
a  long,  sHm,  sick  and  sorry-looking  skeleton  with  a 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    87 

gray  wolf -skin  stretched  over  it,  a  tolerably  bushy 
tail  that  forever  sags  down  with  a  despairing  ex- 
pression of  forsakenness  and  misery,  a  furtive  and 
evil  eye,  and  a  long,  sharp  face,  with  slightly  lifted 
lip  and  exposed  teeth. 

He  has  a  general  slinking  expression  all  over. 
The  coyote  is  a  living,  breathing  allegory  of  want. 
He  is  always  hungry,  always  poor,  out  of  luck, 
and  friendless.  He  is  so  spiritless  and  cowardly 
that,  even  while  his  exposed  teeth  are  pretending  a 
threat,  the  rest  of  his  face  is  apologizing  for  it. 

When  he  sees  you  he  lifts  his  lip  and  lets  a 
flash  of  his  teeth  out,  and  then  turns  a  little  out  of 
the  course  he  was  pursuing,  depresses  his  head 
a  bit,  and  strikes  a  long,  soft-footed  trot  through 
the  sagebrush,  glancing  over  his  shoulder  from 
time  to  time,  till  he  is  about  out  of  easy  pistol 
range,  then  he  stops  and  takes  a  deliberate  survey 
of  you. 

But,  if  you  start  a  swift- footed  dog  after  him, 
you  will  enjoy  it  ever  so  much — especially  if  it  is  a 
dog  that  has  a  good  opinion  of  himself,  and  has 
been  brought  up  to  think  that  he  knows  something 
about  speed.  The  coyote  will  go  swinging  gently 
oflf  on  that  deceitful  trot  of  his,  and  every  little 
while  he  will  smile  a  fraudful  smile  over  his  shoul- 
der that  will  fill  that  dog  entirely  full  of  encour- 
agement and  worldly  ambition. 

All  this  time  the  dog  is  only  a  short  twenty  feet 
behind  the  coyote,  and,  to  save  the  life  of  him,  he 
cannot  understand  why  it  is  that  he  cannot  get 
perceptibly  closer,  and  he  begins  to  get  aggravated. 


88  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

And  next  the  dog  notices  that  he  is  getting 
fagged,  and  that  the  coyote  actually  has  to  slacken 
speed  a  little,  to  keep  from  running  away  from  him. 
And  then  that  town  dog  is  mad  in  earnest,  and 
he  begins  to  strain,  and  weep,  and  swear,  and  paw 
the  sand  higher  than  ever,  and  reach  for  the  coyote 
with  concentrated  and  desperate  energy. 

This  spurt  finds  him  six  feet  behind  the  gliding 
enemy,  and  two  miles  from  his  friends.  And  then, 
in  the  instant  that  a  wild  new  hope  is  lighting  up 
his  face,  the  coyote  turns  and  smiles  blandly  upon 
him  once  more,  and  with  a  something  about  it 
which  seems  to  say : 

"Well,  I  shall  have  to  tear  myself  away  from 
you, — ^business  is  business,  and  it  will  not  do  for 
me  to  be  fooling  along  this  way  all  day."  And 
forthwith  there  is  a  rushing  sound,  and  the  sudden 
splitting  of  a  long  crack  through  the  atmosphere; 
and  behold,  that  dog  is  solitary  and  alone  in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  solitude ! 

Life  Lessons 
George  W.  Bain 

The  happy  mixture  of  the  serious  and  the  humorous  in  this  speech 
can  be  employed  both  to  entertain  and  to  persuade  an  audience. 
The  style  speaks,  and  if  you  keep  in  mind  the  points  you  wish  to 
enforce,  not  neglecting  the  humorous  illustrations,  without  any- 
strained  effort  on  your  part  the  declamation  will  speak  itself. 

Among  the  first  of  moral  qualities  a  young  per- 
son needs,  is  industry.  "By  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread"  has  in  it  more  sweet  bread 
than  all  your  luck.    On  this  ancient  law  the  great- 


Winning  D eclamations-H oiv  to  Speak  Them    89 

est  successes  of  the  world  have  been  based.  On 
this,  Abraham  Lincoln  stood  splitting  rails,  and 
wedged  himself  to  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of 
the  Republic;  on  this,  Shakespeare  stood  weaving 
wool,  and  wove  for  himself  a  fame  immortal ;  on 
this  James  A.  Garfield  tramped  a  tow-path  with 
no  company  but  an  honest  mule,  but  that  tow-path 
led  on  to  the  White  House  in  Washington.  Do 
not  be  lazy.  I  saw  a  man  once  who  really  looked 
so  lazy  it  seemed  to  rest  me  to  look  at  him.  But 
the  man  or  woman  who  lives  in  this  age  of  the 
world  and  lives  in  idleness  should  have  been  born 
in  some  other  age.  Carlyle  says:  "The  race  of 
life  has  become  intense :  the  runners  are  treading  on 
each  other's  heels.  Woe  be  to  the  man  who  stoops 
to  tie  his  shoe  strings." 

Take  care  of  your  principles,  and  to  do  this  start 
right  and  keep  right.  I  heard  of  a  traveler  who 
said  to  a  wayside  farmer,  "How  far  do  you  call  it 
to  Philadelphia?"  The  farmer  replied,  "About 
twenty-five  thousand  miles,  the  way  you  are  going; 
if  you  turn  and  go  the  other  way,  it  is  fourteen 
miles."  There  is  a  wonderful  difference  in  the 
ways  of  life.  If  you  start  right  and  keep  right, 
no  matter  where  you  start  from,  you  will  end 
right.  Go  find  me  the  poorest  boy  in  this  city ; 
let  him  lay  his  hand  on  his  heart  and  pledge  me 
he  will  be  industrious,  honest,  economical  and 
sober,  and  in  twenty  years  hence  you  will  find  him 
honored  and  "well  to  do"  in  life.  Boys,  are  any 
of  you  poor?  Never  mind  poverty.  The  rich 
men  of   to-day  were  poor  boys  thirty  years  ago. 


90  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  The^^ 

The  great  men  come  out  of  cabins  as  a  rule. 
Columbus  was  a  weaver,  Hally  was  a  soap-maker, 
Homer  was  a  beggar,  and  Franklin,  whose  name 
will  live  while  lightning  blazes  on  a  cloud,  came 
from  a  printer's  desk.  Not  long  since,  I  rode 
horseback  through  Hardin  and  La  Rue  Counties, 
Kentucky.  We  call  that  the  land  of  ticks  and 
lizards.  The  soil  is  very  poor,  so  poor  that  it  will 
not  raise  black-eye  peas  unless  you  take  them  with- 
out the  eyes.  Riding  along  that  day  I  came  upon 
a  spot  of  rank  weeds  where  the  soil  had  been  made 
rich  by  the  decay  of  an  old  cabin  that  once  stood 
there.  Out  of  that  cabin  years  ago  came  a  lean, 
lank,  white-headed  boy.  If  ever  a  boy  came  from 
abject  poverty  that  one  did.  When  only  seven 
years  of  age,  he  would  walk  to  Hodgenville  with 
a  basket  of  eggs  to  sell.  The  boys  laughed  at 
him.  They  said  his  clothes  were  like  Joseph's 
because  so  many  colors.  But  he  was  industrious, 
honest  and  sober.  After  a  while  he  was  old 
enough  to  leave  home,  so  he  went  down  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  rivers  on  a  flatboat.  Then  he  re- 
turned and  crossing  over  into  Indiana — he  there 
split  rails  a  while ;  then  on  to  Illinois,  where  he 
practiced  law ;  then  on  to  the  presidential  chair, 
and  in  his  death  he  bore  the  shackles  of  four  mil- 
lion slaves  and  linked  his  name  with  that  of 
Liberty. 

I  thank  God  we  live  in  a  land  where  a  boy  can 
go  from  a  tow-path,  a  tanyard,  or  a  rail-cut  to  the 
presidency  of  a  Republic. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    91 

Scientific  Farming 

Irving  Bacheller 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the 
New  England  Society  of  New  York  City,  1909.  Note  and  express 
the  flavor  of  humor  it  contains.  Bring  out  the  climax  in  the  last 
paragraph  with  feeling  and  force. 

There  are  some  who  say  that  the  "higher  educa- 
tion" has  gone  too  far,  but  I  want  to  tell  you  that 
the  up-to-date  American  farmer  is  a  far-seeing 
man.  He  has  observed  the  hordes  of  human  oxen 
pouring  in  from  Europe,  men  who  can  sleep  in  a 
pigsty  and  dine  on  an  onion  and  a  chunk  of 
bread,  and  he  has  been  unwilling  to  enter  his  sons 
in  that  sort  of  competition ;  and  so  he  has  sent  them 
to  college.  Scientific  farming  has  begun  to  pay.  I 
know  a  farmer  whose  income  would  excite  the 
envy  of  high  finance.  He  said  to  me:  "Don't  be 
afraid  of  education ;  the  land  will  soak  up  all  we 
can  get  and  yell  for  more." 

My  friends,  if  I  knew  half  the  secrets  in  ten 
acres  of  land  I  believe  I  could  make  my  fortune  off 
them  in  five  years.  We  have  sent  the  smart  boys 
to  the  city,  and  we  have  kept  the  fools  on  the 
farm.  We  have  put  everything  on  the  farms  but 
brains.  Anybody  can  learn  Blackstone  and  Green- 
leaf,  but  the  book  of  law  that  is  writ  in  the  soil 
is  only  for  keen  eyes.  We  want  our  young  men 
to  know  that  it  is  more  dignified  to  search  for  the 
secrets  of  God  in  the  land  than  to  grope  for  the 
secrets  of  Satan  in  a  law-suit.  One  hundred  thou- 
sand young  men  will  be  leaving  college  within  a 


92  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

year  from  now.  If  the  smartest  of  them  would  go 
to  work  on  the  land  with  gangs  of  these  human 
oxen  we  could  make  the  old  earth  lop-sided  with 
the  fruitfulness  of  America. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  "hayseed"  is  no  more. 
I  propose  the  health  of  the  coming  farmer,  who  is 
to  be  a  gentleman,  a  scholar,  a  laird,  a  baron.  I 
propose  the  health  of  the  many  who  have  taught 
and  shall  teach  him 

"To  sow  the  seed  of  truth  and  hope  and  peace 
And  take  the  root  of  error  from  the  sod, 
To  be  of  those  who  make  the  sure  increase 
Forever  growing  in  the  lands  of  God." 

Ambition 

Jerome  K.  Jerome 

This  is  an  extract  from  the  author's  "Idle  Thoughts  of  an  Idle 
Fellow."  The  conversational  style  is  best  fitted  for  the  delivery  of 
this  selection,  for  the  most  part.  The  last  paragraph  affords  an 
opportunity  for  a  change  to  a  more  elevated  tone,  expressive  of  the 
enthusiasm  which  comes  from  the  zest  of  the  game. 

Is  it,  forsooth,  wrong  to  be  ambitious?  Are  the 
men  wrong  who  with  bent  back  and  sweating  brow 
cut  the  smooth  road  over  which  humanity  marches 
forward,  who  use  the  talents  their  Master  has  in- 
trusted to  them  for  toiling,  while  others  play? 

Of  course,  they  are  seeking  their  own  reward. 
Man  is  not  given  that  Godlike  unselfishness  that 
thinks  only  of  others'  good.  But  in  working  for 
themselves  they  are  working  for  us  all.  We  are 
so  bound  together  that  no  man  can  labor  for  him- 
self alone.    Each  blow  he  strikes  in  his  own  behalf 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    93 

helps  to  mould  the  universe.  The  stream  in  strug- 
gling onward  turns  the  mill  wheel ;  the  coral  insect 
fashioning  its  tiny  cells  joins  continents ;  and  the 
ambitious  man  building  a  pedestal  for  himself 
leaves  a  monument  of  posterity.  Alexander  and 
Caesar  fought  for  their  own  ends,  but  in  doing  so 
they  put  a  belt  of  civilization  half  around  the 
earth.  Stephenson,  to  win  a  fortune,  invented  the 
steam  engine,  and  Shakespeare  wrote  his  plays  to 
keep  a  comfortable  home  for  Mrs.  Shakespeare 
and  the  children. 

Contented,  unambitious  people  are  all  very  well 
in  their  way.  They  form  a  neat,  useful  back- 
ground for  great  portraits  to  be  painted  against, 
and  they  make  a  respectable  audience  for  the 
active  spirits  to  play  before.  I  have  not  a  word  to 
say  against  them*  so  long  as  they  keep  quiet.  But 
they  should  not  go  strutting  about,  crying  out  that 
they  are  the  true  model  for  the  whole  species. 

If  you  are  foolish  enough  to  be  contented,  don't 
show  it,  but  grumble  with  the  rest;  and  if  you  can 
do  with  a  little,  ask  for  a  great  deal.  Because  if 
you  don't,  you  won't  get  anything.  In  this  world 
it  is  necessary  to  adopt  the  principle  pursued  by 
the  plaintifif  in  an  action  for  damages  and  to  de- 
mand ten  times  more  than  you  are  ready  to  accept. 
If  you  can  feel  satisfied  with  a  hundred,  begin  by 
insisting  on  a  thousand;  if  you  start  by  suggesting 
a  hundred  you  will  only  get  ten. 

What  a  terribly  dull  affair,  too,  life  must  be  for 
contented  people.  They  never  know  the  excite- 
ment of  expectation  nor  the  stern  delight  of  ac- 


94  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Thcni 

complished  effort,  such  as  stir  the  pulse  of  the 
man  who  has  objects  and  hopes  and  plans.  To 
the  ambitious  man  life  is  a  brilliant  game — a  game 
that  calls  forth  all  his  tact  and  energy  and  nerve — 
a  game  to  be  won,  in  the  long  run,  by  the  quick 
eye  and  the  steady  hand,  and  yet  having  sufficient 
chance  about  its  working  out  to  give  it  all  the  zest 
of  uncertainty.  He  exults  in  it,  as  the  strong 
swimmer  in  the  heavy  billows,  as  the  athlete  in  the 
wrestle,  as  the  soldier  in  battle.  And  if  he  be  de- 
feated he  wins  the  grim  joy  of  fighting;  if  he 
loses  the  race  he  at  least  has  had  a  run.  Better 
to  work  and  fail  than  to  sleep  one's  life  away. 

The  Victor  of  Marengo 

Anonymous 

Here  is  another  "old  favorite"  which  has  had  a  record-breaking 
run  in  declamation  service.  It  is  full  of  dramatic  interest  and  quick 
changes.  These  two  matters  demand  special  attention  in  delivery: 
(i)*  Vary  the  delivery  to  indicate,  smoothly  but  plainly,  the  many 
and  ofttimes  quick  changes  that  occur,  and  (2)  "Mind  the  pauses" 
between  such  changes.  Carry  on  the  dialogues  naturally,  making 
each  character  speak  in  his  proper  manner.  In  denoting  conversa- 
tion to  an  audience,  the  speaker  turns  and  looks  to  the  right  and  to 
the  left,  or  vice  zersa,  as  each  character  talks.  Remember  that  the 
gamin  was  some  distance  from  Napoleon  and  Desaix.  Some  sug- 
gestive and  descriptive  gestures  go  naturally  with  this  declamation, 
but  avoid  an  over-literal  interpretation  of  figurative  language,  in 
gesture-expression.  And  don't  try  to  represent  every  scene  or 
incident  by  gesture.  See  the  pictures  vividly,  and  very  often  a 
glance  of  the  eyes  in  the  proper  direction  is  the  most  effective 
gesture.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  parts  of  this  piece,  such 
as  the  reply  of  the  gamin  to  Napoleon's  command,  should  be  given 
with  all  the  fire  and  force  you  can  muster. 

Napoleon  was  sitting  in  his  tent.     Before  him 
lay  the  map  of  Italy.     He  took  four  pins,  stuck 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    95 

them  up,  measured,  moved  the  pins,  and  measured 
again.  "Now,"  said  he,  "that  is  right.  I  will 
capture  him  there."  "Who,  sire?"  said  an  officer. 
"Melas,  the  old  fox  of  Austria.  He  will  return 
from  Genoa,  pass  through  Turin,  and  fall  back  on 
Alexandria.  I  will  cross  the  Po,  meet  him  on  the 
plains  of  La  Servia,  and  conquer  him  there." 
And  the  finger  of  the  child  of  destiny  pointed  to 
Marengo. 

Two  months  later,  the  memorable  campaign  of 
1800  began.  The  20th  of  May  saw  Napoleon  on 
the  heights  of  St.  Bernard ;  the  22nd,  Lannes,  with 
the  army  of  Genoa,  held  Ivrae.  So  far  all  had 
gone  well  with  Napoleon.  He  had  compelled  the 
Austrians  to  take  the  position  he  desired,  had  re- 
duced their  army  from  120,000  to  40,000  men, 
dispatched  Desaix  to  the  right,  and  on  June  14th, 
moved  forward  to  consummate  his  masterly  plan. 

But  God  thwarted  his  schemes.  In  the  gorges  of 
the  Alps  a  few  drops  of  rain  had  fallen,  and  the 
Po  could  not  be  crossed  in  time.  Melas,  pushed 
to  the  wall  by  Lannes,  rested  to  cut  his  way  out; 
and  Napoleon  reached  the  field  to  see  Lannes 
beaten,  Champeaux  dead  and  Kellerman  still 
charging.  Old  Melas  poured  his  Austrian  phalanx 
on  Marengo  till  the  Consular  Guard  gave  way,  and 
the  well-planned  victory  of  Napoleon  became  a 
terrible  defeat. 

Just  as  the  day  was  lost,  Desaix,  the  boy  general, 
came  sweeping  across  the  field  at  the  head  of  his 
cavalry  and  halted  near  the  eminence  where  stood 
Napoleon.     In  the  corps  was  a  drummer  boy,  a 


96  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

gamin,  whom  Desaix  had  picked  up  in  the  streets 
of  Paris,  and  who  had  followed  the  victorious 
eagles  of  France  in  the  campaign  of  Egypt  and 
Austria.  As  the  column  halted  Napoleon  shouted 
to  him:  "Beat  a  retreat."  The  boy  did  not  stir. 
"Gamin,  beat  a  retreat!"  The  boy  grasped  his 
drumsticks,  stepped  forward  and  said:  "Oh,  sire, 
I  don't  know  how.  Desaix  never  taught  me  that. 
But  I  can  beat  a  charge.  Oh !  I  can  beat  a  charge 
that  would  make  the  dead  fall  in  line.  I  beat  that 
charge  at  the  pyramids  once,  and  I  beat  it  at  Mount 
Tabor,  and  I  beat  it  again  at  the  Bridge  of  Lodi. 
May  I  beat  it  here  ?" 

Napoleon  turned  to  Desaix:  "We  are  beaten; 
what  shall  we  do?"  "Do?  Beat  them!  It  is  only 
three  o'clock ;  there  is  time  to  win  a  victory  yet. 
Up  gamin,  the  charge !  Beat  the  old  charge  of 
Mount  Tabor  and  Lodi !"  A  moment  later  the 
corps,  following  the  sword  gleam  of  Desaix  and 
keeping  step  to  the  furious  roll  of  the  gamin's 
drum,  swept  down  on  the  hosts  of  Austria.  They 
drove  the  first  line  back  on  the  second,  the  second 
back  on  the  third,  and  there  they  died.  Desaix 
fell  ?it  the  first  volley,  but  the  line  never  faltered. 
As  the  smoke  cleared  away,  in  the  front  of  the 
line  was  seen  the  gamin,  still  beating  the  furious 
charge,  as  over  the  dead  and  wounded,  over  the 
breastworks  and  ditches,  over  the  cannon  and  rear 
guard,  he  led  the  way  to  victory!  And  the  fifteen 
days  in  Italy  were  ended. 

To-day  men  point  to  Marengo  with  wonderment. 
They  laud  the  power  and  foresight  that  so  skill- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    97 

fully  planned  the  battle;  but  they  forget  that 
Napoleon  failed,  they  forget  that  he  was  defeated; 
they  forget  that  a  general  only  thirty  years  old 
made  a  victory  of  the  Great  Conqueror's  defeat, 
and  that  a  gamin  of  Paris  put  to  shame  the  Child 
of  Destiny, 

A  Southern  Court  Scene 

Anonymous 

This  declamation,  like  the  preceding,  demands  frequent  changes, 
with  natural  pauses.  Use  plenty  of  force  where  required — and  many 
places  require  it — but  vary  your  force  to  correspond  with  the  thought. 
In  the  matter  of  gesture,  remember  that  you  are  not  the  defendant 
nor  his  attorney,  but  you  are  to  suggest  what  they  did.  Don't,  for 
example,  go  through  the  movements  of  the  defendant  when  "he 
bent  and  lifted  a  form  from  the  ground,"  as  we  have  seen  speakers 
do,  and  don't  tear  open  the  prisoner's  shirt,  when  you  reach  that 
incident.  Simply  looking  or  pointing  at  the  imaginary  prisoner  is 
a  far  more  effective  gesture. 

A  NEGRO  trial  was  in  progress  in  the  little  village 
of  Jefifersonville.  The  defendant's  counsel  had 
introduced  no  testimony.  A  man  had  been  stabbed, 
had  fallen  dead,  his  hand  clasped  over  the  wound 
and  from  that  hand  a  knife  had  dropped,  which 
the  defendant's  wife  seized  and  concealed.  The 
prisoner  declared  emphatically  that  the  deceased 
had  assaulted  him  knife  in  hand  and  that  he  had 
killed  him  in  self-defense. 

As  he  began  his  story,  a  tall  thick-set  gentleman 
entered  the  room  and  stood  silent.  The  court- 
house was  crowded  to  the  door,  the  anxious  multi- 
tude catching  every  word  as  it  fell  from  the 
prisoner's  lips.  When  he  had  ceased,  the  new- 
comer pushed   his   way  down   the  crowded  aisle, 


98  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

entered  the  rail,  shook  hands  with  the  Court  and 
attorneys  and  sat  down.  In  view  of  the  strong 
circumstantial  evidence  the  prisoner's  story  had 
little  effect,  and  this  was  easily  swept  away  by  a 
few  cold  words  from  the  District  Attorney.  The 
case  was  passed  to  the  jury  and  the  Judge  was 
preparing  to  deliver  the  charge,  when  the  old 
gentleman  arose. 

"If  your  Honor,  please,"  he  said,  "the  prisoner 
is  entitled  to  the  closing  argument,  and  in  the  ab- 
sence of  other  counsel,  I  beg  that  you  mark  my 
name  for  the  defense." 

"Mr.  Clerk,"  said  the  Court,  "mark  General 
Robert  Thomas  for  the  defense." 

The  silence  was  absolute.  With  eyes  intent  the 
jurymen  sat  motionless.  Only  this  old  man,  grim, 
gray,  and  defiant,  stood  between  the  negro  yonder 
and  the  grave.  The  past  seemed  to  speak  out  of 
the  silence  to  every  man  on  that  bench. 

Suddenly  his  lips  opened,  and  he  said  with 
quick  but  quiet  energy : 

"The  knife  found  by  the  dead  man's  side  was 
his  own.  He  had  drawn  it  before  he  was  stabbed. 
The  prisoner  is  a  brave  man,  a  strong  man,  and 
he  would  not  have  used  a  weapon  upon  one  un- 
armed. 

"Why  do  I  say  he  was  brave?  Every  man  on 
this  jury  shouldered  his  musket  during  the  late 
war.  Some,  perhaps,  were  at  Gettysburg.  I  well 
remember  that  fight.  The  enemy  stood  brave  and 
determined,  and  met  our  charges  with  a  grit  and 
endurance  that  could  not  be  shaken.     Line  after 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them    99 

line  melted  away,  until  at  last  came  Pickett's 
charge.  When  that  magnificent  command  went  in, 
a  negro  stood  behind  it,  watching  and  waiting. 
You  know  the  result.  Out  of  that  vortex  of  flame, 
that  storm  of  lead  and  iron,  a  handful  drifted  back. 
From  one  to  another  the  negro  ran,  then  turned 
and  followed  in  the  track  of  the  charge.  On — on, 
he  went;  on  through  the  smoke  and  flame,  up  to 
the  very  cannon  themselves.  There  he  bent  and 
lifted  a  form  from  the  ground.  Together  they 
rose  and  fell  until,  meeting  them  half  way,  I  took 
the  burden  from  the  hero  and  bore  it  on  to  safety. 

"That  burden  was  the  senseless  form  of  my 
brother  and  the  man  who  bore  him  out ;  who 
brought  him  to  me  in  his  arms  as  a  mother  would 
carry  a  sick  child ;  that  man,  my  friends,  sits  here 
under  my  hand.     See — if  I  speak  not  the  truth." 

He  tore  open  the  prisoner's  shirt  and  lay  bare 
his  breast.  A  great  ragged  seam  marked  it  from 
right  to  left. 

"Look,"  he  said,  "that  scar  was  won  by  a  slave 
in  an  hour  that  tried  the  souls  of  freemen,  and  put 
to  its  highest  test  the  best  manhood  in  the  South. 
No  man  who  wins  such  wounds  can  thrust  a  knife 
into  an  unarmed  foe." 

It  may  have  been  contrary  to  the  evidence,  but 
the  jury  without  leaving  their  seats  gave  a  verdict 
of  "Not  guilty,"  and  the  Prosecuting  Attorney,  who 
bore  a  scar  on  his  own  cheek,  cheered  as  he  re- 
ceived it. 


lOO  Witining  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them 

The  Curse  of  Selfishness 
L.  M.  Cross 

Simply  talk  this  out  clearly,  directly,  and  naturally.  Take  special 
pains  to  say  naturally  the  dialect-dialogue  between  the  boy  and  hit 
father,  and  pause  at  the  end  to  let  the  point  "soak  in." 

Selfish  people  live  in  a  very  narrow,  small 
world.  They  see  very  little,  they  accomplish  less, 
and  they  get  absolutely  nothing  out  of  life.  Their 
attempt  to  absorb  all  makes  them  lose  the  very 
things  that  count  most  in  life. 

They  keep  their  very  feet  planted  on  what  they 
think  they  have  or  can  get.  They  remind  us  of  a 
boy  of  whom  we  have  heard,  who  was  being 
punished  unmercifully  by  another  boy.  "Vy  don't 
you  hit  the  poy  back,"  urged  the  father  of  the 
boy  who  was  getting  licked.  "Fadder,  I  can't  hit 
'im  back,  I'm  standing  on  a  ten-cent  piece,"  re- 
plied the  boy. 

Get  away  from  your  little  attempts  to  cover 
everything  that  your  feet  may  fall  upon,  and  go 
into  the  battle  of  life,  for  the  very  action  will 
bring  you  exercise  and  a  stronger  manhood. 

The  little  grain  of  wheat  does  not  really  live 
until  it  is  buried  in  the  ground  and  dies,  and  then 
afterwards  it  reproduces  itself  a  thousand  times, 
and  a  man  has  to  burst  his  little  selfish  soul  if  he 
wants  to  live  a  larger,  more  useful  and  really  suc- 
cessful life. 

Suppose  the  Almighty  didn't  deal  with  us  with 
a  lavish  hand !  There  is  no  Hmit  to  His  boundless 
atmosphere  and  the  earth's  fruitful  and  generous 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  loi 

soil.  The  earth  yields  abundantly  of  fruit,  vege- 
tables and  grain. 

If  Nature  were  selfish,  the  tree  would  grow 
alone,  the  potato  plant  would  produce  just  one 
solitary  potato,  and  rain  would  fall  in  a  single  drop 
if  at  all,  instead  of  coming  down  in  beneficent, 
copious  showers. 

A  selfish  man  makes  no  friends,  for  he  is  so 
wrapped  in  his  own  selfish  self  that  he  hasn't  time 
to  get  acquainted  with  people.  He  know's  nothing 
of  the  joy  of  giving,  because  he  never  gives.  He 
is  like  a  sponge  on  a  rock,  absorbing  all  the 
moisture  within  his  reach,  and  giving  out  not  a 
single  drop.  ' 

When  a  selfish  man  dies,  he  goes  to  his  grave 
accompanied  by  as  mournful,  gloomy  a  lot  of 
people  as  you  could  find  attending  and  enjoying 
a  minstrel  show! 

The  Girl  in  the  Kitchen 
John  H.  Vincent 

Bear  down  on  the  thought  in  the  first  paragraph,  and  inake  that 
speak.  This  paragraph  is  a  general  introduction  to  your  subject, 
and  its  close  should  be  marked  by  a  natural  pause  and  change  as  the 
second  paragraph  is  begun. 

There  are  many  fields  of  service  in  life.  We 
call  them  trades,  pursuits,  professions,  callings. 
These  demand  a  variety  of  gifts  and  talents — and 
of  processes  preparatory.  Some  require  head- 
work,  others  dexterity,  tact,  genius.  At  the  root 
of  all  attempt  and  achievement  is  manual  labor — 
the  house  ^^^  b<^  built,  the  ground  cultivated,  imple- 


102  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

ments  manufactured,  food  provided ;  and  then  come 
merchandizing,  banking,  civil  and  political  devis- 
ings,  and  for  all — education.  It  is  a  busy  world. 
The  measure  of  value  is  not  alone  in  time  spent 
nor  physical  energy  expended.  Much  depends  on 
faculty  and  quality  of  energy  required,  natural 
endowment,  tact,  ability,  as  when  an  artist  paints 
a  picture  worth  one  thousand  or  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars, the  canvas  is  not  expensive,  nor  the  pigments; 
the  value  is  in  the  soul  of  the  artist.  Much  also 
depends  on  the  ruling  motive  which  is  really  the 
measure  of  merit.  One  artist  paints  a  picture  that, 
by  the  money  he  gains  for  it,  he  may  live  in  luxu- 
rious ease  and  sensual  gratification.  Here  a  servant 
girl  earns  money  by  hard  toil  to  help  her  brother 
through  college. 

One  of  our  most  important  modern  contributors 
to  civilization  is  the  "girl  in  the  kitchen."  She 
may  be  a  drudge  or  she  may  be  a  queen — all  de- 
pends upon  her  own  keynote^— her  motive,  her 
ideal,  her  ruling  purpose. 

The  girl  in  the  kitchen  should  be  the  domestic 
artist  of  the  house, — a  queen  of  domestic  science, 
respecting  herself  because  she  follows  a  profession 
that  contributes  to  the  highest  social  conditions,  to 
physical  life,  to  the  gratification  of  appetite,  and 
really  to  the  fine  arts  as  well.  She  should  be  a 
lady  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  title  as  applied  to 
an  honorable,  sensible,  genuine  ambitious  woman 
who  is  not  ashamed  to  earn  her  own  living  in  an 
honorable  way.  She  should  represent  not  a  "so- 
cial class,"  but  a  "profession,"  and  take  her  social 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  103 

position  according  to  the  quality  of  her  personaHty 
and  not  according  to  the  effete  distinctions  of  a 
social  order — an  order  we  ought  by  this  time  to 
have  outgrown. 

Let  us  train  our  girls  and  boys  to  love  home, 
to  honor  industry,  to  put  a  true  estimate  on  neat- 
ness and  taste,  on  economy  and  common  sense,  to 
respect  everybody  who  believes  in  self-support,  to 
treat  servants  with  courtesy  and  kindness,  to 
honor  a  lady,  whether  dressed  in  satin  or  linsey- 
woolsey;  whether  seated  at  the  table  or  serving 
those  who  are  seated  at  it ;  and  who  remember  the 
real  measure  of  individual  worth  as  God  estimates 
it  and  as  the  common  sense  of  society  judges  it. 
Let  our  new  civilization  take  a  step  forward,  and 
value  at  her  real  worth  the  girl  in  the  kitchen. 

The  Children  of  the  Poor 

Theodore  Parker 

Pathos  is  the  emotion  that  runs  all  through  this  selection,  and  for 
effective  delivery,  it  must  be  felt  as  one  speaks.  The  touch  of  irony 
along  with  the  pathos  in  the  last  paragraph,  should  also  be  noted 
and    expressed. 

If  you  would  know  the  life  of  one  of  those  poor 
boys  in  our  State  prisons  you  would  wonder  and 
weep.  Let  me  take  one  of  them  at  random  out 
of  the  mass.  He  was  born,  unwelcome,  amid 
wretchedness  and  want.  His  coming  increased 
both.  Miserably  he  struggles  through  his  infancy, 
less  tended  than  the  lion's  whelp.  He  becomes  a 
boy.      He   is   covered   with   rags   only,   and   those 


'104  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

squalid  with  long-accumulated  filth.  He  wanders 
about  your  streets,  too  low  even  to  seek  employ- 
ment, now  snatching  from  a  gutter  half-rotten 
fruit,  which  the  owner  flings  away.  He  is  ignorant ; 
he  has  never  entered  a  school  house;  to  him  even 
the  alphabet  is  a  mystery.  He  is  young  in  years, 
yet  old  in  misery.  There  is  no  hope  in  his  face. 
He  herds  with  others  like  himself,  low,  ragged, 
hungry  and  idle.  If  misery  loves  company  he  finds 
that  satisfaction.  Follow  him  to  his  home  at  night; 
he  herds  in  a  cellar;  in  the  same  sty  with  father, 
mother,  brothers,  sisters,  and  perhaps  yet  other 
families  of  like  degree.  What  served  him  for 
dress  by  day  is  his  only  bed  by  night. 

Well,  this  boy  steals  some  trifle,  a  biscuit,  a  bit 
of  rope,  or  a  knife  from  a  shop  window.  He  is 
seized  and  carried  to  jail.  The  day  comes  for 
trial.  He  is  marched  through  the  streets  in  hand- 
cuffs, the  companion  of  drunkards  and  thieves, 
thus  deadening  the  little  self-respect  which  nature 
left  even  in  an  outcast's  bosom.  He  sits  there 
chained  like  a  'beast ;  a  boy  in  irons !  the  sport  and 
mockery  of  men  vulgar  as  the  common  sewer.  His 
trial  comes.  Of  course  he  is  convicted.  The 
show  of  his  countenance  is  witness  against  him. 
His  rags  and  dirt,  his  ignorance,  his  vagrant 
habits,  his  idleness,  all  testify  against  him.  That 
face  so  young,  and  yet  so  impudent,  so  sly,  so 
writ  all  over  with  embryo  villainy,  is  evidence 
enough.  The  jury  are  soon  convinced,  for  they 
see  his  temptations  in  his  look,  and  surely  know 
that  in  such  a  condition  men  will  steal;  yes,  they 


Winning  Declamations— How  to  Speak  Them  105 

themselves  would  steal.  The  judge  represents  the 
law,  and  that  practically  regards  it  a  crime  for  a 
boy  to  be  weak  and  poor. 

I  have  been  told  a  story,  and  I  wish  it  might  be 
falsely  told,  of  a  boy,  in  one  of  our  cities,  of  six- 
teen, sent  to  the  house  of  correction  for  five  years 
because  he  stole  a  bunch  of  keys,  and  coming  out 
of  jail  at  twenty-one,  unable  to  write,  or  read,  or 
calculate,  and  with  no  trade  but  that  of  picking 
oakum.  Yet  he  had  been  five  years  the  child  of 
the  State,  and  in  that  college  for  the  poor!  Who 
would  employ  such  a  youth ;  with  such  a  reputa- 
tion; with  the  smell  of  the  jail  in  his  very  breath? 
Not  your  shrewd  men  of  business — they  know  the 
risk;  not  your  respectable  men,  members  of 
churches  and  all  that ;  not  they !  Why,  it  would 
hurt  a  men's  reputation  for  piety  to  do  good  in  that 
way.  Besides,  the  risk  is  great,  and  it  argues  a 
great  deal  more  Christianity  than  it  is  popular  to 
have,  for  a  respectable  man  to  employ  such  a 
youth.  He  is  forced  back  into  crime  again.  I 
say  forced,  for  honest  men  will  not  employ  him 
when  the  State  shoves  him  out  of  jail.  Soon  you 
will  have  him  in  the  court  again,  to  be  punished 
more  severely.  Then  he  goes  to  the  State  prison, 
and  then  again,  and  again,  till  death  mercifully 
ends  his  career ! 


io6  Winning  D eclamations-H ozv  to  Speak  Them 

The  Boy  and  the  Juvenile  Court 

Ben  B.  Lindsey 

Judge  Lindsey  has  been  doing  a  great  work  for  wayward  boys 
in  Denver  because  he  sympathizes  with  them— takes  their  point  of 
view.  You  must  also  take  a  sympathetic  attitude  in  order  to  speak 
this  declamation  effectively.  Bring  out  the  dialogue  naturally,  es- 
pecially the  street   dialect   of   Micky. 

Boys  have  feelings.  They  Hke  to  have  friends. 
There  isn't  much  use  to  try  to  arouse  pride  unless 
there  be  some  one  whom  they  want  to  please,  and, 
in  pleasing,  will  in  turn  be  pleased.  If  they  have 
no  friends,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  supply  the 
friend,  and  the  pride,  in  most  cases,  will  come  out. 
If  they  have  the  wrong  kind  of  friends,  it  is  a 
good  thing  to  quietly  supply  the  right  kind. 

Take  the  case  of  Micky.  Before  Micky  got  in 
the  juvenile  court  one  of  the  Denver  papers  had 
published  his  picture  with  a  graphic  account  under 
the  double-leaded  headline,  "The  Worst  Kid  in 
Town."  Micky  had  feelings.  He  made  the  paper 
so  much  trouble  that  they  finally  gave  him  a  job. 
One  unlucky  day,  however,  as  he  himself  explains 
it,  he  got  "canned."  After  he  was  placed  on  proba- 
tion, he  was  arrested  on  a  false  suspicion,  as  he 
stated  to  me,  "simply  because  the  bull  had  to  pinch 
somebody  and  he  pinched  me  because  he  had  been 
reading  the  Post"  (the  offending  newspaper).  The 
result  was  a  second  article  entitled,  "The  Misfor- 
tunes of  Micky,"  in  which  it  was  announced  that 
he  had  been  sent  to  the  Reform  School.  Micky 
was  simply  the  victim  of  a  newspaper  exaggera- 
tion, as  other  distinguished  people  have  been  before. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  107 

He  came  to  me  in  a  great  state  of  perturbation 
the  next  day,  with  the  offending  paper  in  his  hand. 
He  said,  "Judge,  just  look  at  dat."  I  read  rather 
surprisedly  that  I  had  committed  Micky  to  the 
Industrial  School.  "Well,"  I  said,  "Micky,  this 
is  very  distressing."  "Yes,"  he  said,  "I  knowed 
it  was  a  lie  when  I  seed  it,  but,"  he  said,  the  tears 
welling  in  his  eyes,  "dat  ain't  de  worst  of  it.  Deys 
done  gone  and  put  it  on  the  sporting  page,  and 
all  my  friends  will  see  it."  Now,  Micky's  friends 
were  among  the  sporting  fraternity.  If  there  was 
a  prize-fight  on,  before  Micky  got  in  the  juvenile 
court — and  the  police  would  have  you  believe,  even 
after — Micky  was  there  if  he  had  to  go  in  through 
the  roof.  He  is  now  a  special  probation  officer 
in  the  juvenile  court  and  very  proud  of  his  job. 
He  can  "keep  tab"  on  more  bad  kids  than  the 
entire  police  force.  He  says  himself  that  he  has 
"done  reformed  long  ago,"  and  I  am  inclined  to 
credit  the  statement. 

The  best  way  to  reform  a  boy  waywardly  dis- 
posed is  first  to  understand  him.  You  have  got  to 
get  inside  of  him  and  see  things  through  his  eyes, 
understand  his  motives,  have  sympathy  and  pa- 
tience with  his  faults,  just  as  far  as  you  can,  re- 
membering that  more  can  be  accomplished  through 
love  than  by  any  other  method. 


io8  Winning  Declamations-H ozu  to  Speak  Them 

The  Modern  Farmer 

C.  W.  Burkett 

The  farmer  enters  into  his  own  at  the  very 
moment  he  ^eahzes  that  he  ought  to  be  educated; 
when  he  uses  his  powers  of  thought  to  till  his 
land  and  to  grow  his  crops ;  when  he  uses  his 
muscles  less  and  his  brain  more;  when  he  spares 
his  physical  body  and  crowds  the  tool  or  machine 
he  has  created.  The  effect  of  the  elimination  of 
hand  labor  and  the  use  of  muscle-saving  machinery 
on  the  physical  and  mental  man  is  soon  apparent. 
Before  the  coming  of  machinery  this  was  true,  as 
Edward  Markham  has  said: 

Stolid  and  stunned,  a  brother  to  the  ox, 

He  stands  and  leans  on  his  hoe  and  gazes  on  the  ground; 
The  emptiness  of  the  ages  on  his  face, 

And  on  his  back  the  burdens  of  the  world. 

While  now,  as  he  rides  and  directs  every  sort 
of  machine  that  is  made  to  do  his  will,  he  fittingly 
represents  his  highest  and  loftiest  mission.  He 
stands  now  as  Henry  Jerome  Stockard  sees  him: 

Imperial  man's  co-worker  with  the  wind 

And  rain  and  light  and  heat  and  cold,  and  all 

The  agencies  of  God  to  feed  and  clothe 
And  render  beautiful  and  glad  the  world! 

Foremost  among  the  causes  that  has  occasioned 
this  change  in  physical  and  mental  man,  in  adding 
ease,  comfort,  and  length  of  life,  in  making  pes- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  109 

sible   the    nation's    wealth    and    greatness,   is    the 
application  of  machinery  to  agriculture. 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  ancient  man  with 
his  sickle  in  one  of  our  Western  wheat  fields  along- 
side a  modern  combined  header  and  thresher, 
which  takes  twenty  feet  at  a  "through"  and  drops 
the  grain  off  in  sacks,  imagine,  if  you  can,  how 
many  of  these  fellows  with  the  sickle  it  would 
take  to  harvest  our  immense  crops  of  60,000,000 
acres  of  wheat.  Put  your  ancient  farmer  with  his 
crooked  stick  for  a  plow  in  one  of  these  wheat 
fields  and  count  up,  if  you  can,  at  some  idle  hour 
how  many  like  him  it  would  take  to  do  the  work 
of  the  man  who  to-day  drives  the  modern  steam 
gang-plow  at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour,  taking 
twenty-four  one-foot  furrows  at  a  "through." 

If  we  to-day  used  the  old  hand  methods  and 
produced  our  present  food  supply,  fifty  millions  of 
people  more  would  need  to  be  added  to  our  popula- 
tion, and  all  of  us  would  be  required  in  our  agri- 
cultural fields.  Even  then  we  should  need  to  eat 
sparingly  and  to  fast  often,  else  the  day  of  little 
harvest  might  come  and  we  perish  altogether. 

Let  your  farm  be  a  factory,  where  most  of  the 
crops  raised  shall  be  consumed  as  feed  for  live 
stock,  that  finished  products  may  be  made  and  sold 
as  such,  rather  than  as  raw  materials  in  which 
form  they  were  raised.  Such  a  system  of  farming 
will  lead  to  permanent  improvement  of  the  soil ; 
it  will  secure  from  it  the  highest  efificiency.  These 
things  it  means :  there  shall  be  diversity  of  crops ; 
more   live    stock    shall    be   bred    and    fed   on    the 


no  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

factory-farm;  the  entire  plant  shall  be  managed  as 
a  business  enterprise  of  the  largest  magnitude. 


At  the  Tomb  of  Napoleon 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll 

This  has  long  been  a  favorite  for  declamation,  and  naturally  so, 
for  it  is  in  IngersoU's  best  style.  A  vivid  imagination,  that  will 
enable  you  to  see,  at  the  moment  of  speaking,  the  things  described, 
is  essential  for  effective  delivery.  Bring  out  naturally  the  changes. 
Note  that  each  one  of  the  incidents  of  Napoleon's  career  requires  a 
different  emotion.  Don't  ruin  this  part  of  the  declamation,  as  is 
often  done,  by  excessive  gesturing.  If  you  see  the  pictures  vividly, 
your  audience  will  also  see  them  without  constant  gestures.  The 
rate  in  the  last  paragraph  should  be  much  slower  than  the  one  pre- 
ceding, where  action  is  portrayed. 

To  show  how  military  glory  fails  to  bring  happi- 
ness, Robert  G.  Ingersoll  once  said : 

A  little  while  ago  I  stood  by  the  grave  of  the 
old  Napoleon.  It  is  a  magnificent  tomb  of  gilt  and 
gold,  fit  almost  for  a  dead  deity.  I  gazed  upon  the 
sarcophagus  of  rare  Egyptian  marble  in  which 
rests  at  last  the  ashes  of  that  restless  man.  I 
leaned  upon  the  balustrade  and  thought  of  the 
career  of  the  greatest  soldier  of  the  modern  world. 
I  saw  him  walking  upon  the  banks  of  the  Seine 
contemplating  suicide.  I  saw  him  quelling  the 
mob  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  I  saw  him  at  the  head 
of  the  army  of  Italy.  I  saw  him  crossing  the 
Bridge  of  Lodi  with  the  tricolor  in  his  hand.  I 
saw  him  in  Egypt  in  the  shadows  of  the  Pyramids. 
I  saw  him  conquer  the  Alps  and  mingle  the  eagles 
of  France  with  the  eagles  of  the  crags.  I  saw  him 
in  Russia,  where  the  infantry  of  the  snow  and  the 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  m 

cavalry  of  the  wild  blasts  scattered  his  legions 
like  winter's  withered  leaves,  I  saw  him  at  Leipsic 
in  defeat  and  disaster,  driven  by  a  million  bayonets, 
clutched  like  a  wild  beast,  banished  to  Elba.  I 
saw  him  escape  and  retake  an  empire  by  the  force 
of  his  genius.  I  saw  him  upon  the  frightful  field 
of  Waterloo,  where  Chance  and  Fate  combined  to 
wreck  the  fortunes  of  their  former  king,  and  I 
saw  him  a  prisoner  on  the  rock  at  St.  Helena, 
wilh  his  arms  calmly  folded  behind  his  back,  gaz- 
ing steadfastly  out  upon  the  sad  and  solemn  sea. 

And  I  thought  of  all  the  widows  and  orphans  he 
had  made;  of  all  the  tears  that  had  been  shed  for 
his  glory;  of  the  only  woman  who  had  ever  loved 
him  torn  from  his  heart  by  the  ruthless  hand  of 
ambition.  And  I  said,  I  would  rather  have  been  a 
poor  French  peasant  and  worn  wooden  shoes,  I 
would  rather  have  lived  in  a  hut  with  the  vines 
growing  over  the  door  and  the  grapes  growing 
purple  in  the  kisses  of  the  autumn  sun;  yes,  I 
would  rather  have  been  that  poor  peasant  and  gone 
down  to  the  tongueless  silence  of  the  dreamless 
dust,  than  to  have  been  that  impersonation  of 
force  and  murder  known  as  Napoleon  the  Great. 


112  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Making  of  Our  Country's  Flag 
Franklin  K.  Lane 

This  selection  has  an  interesting  history.  It  was  delivered  by  Mr. 
Lane,  U.  S.  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  before  an  audience  composed 
of  government  employees  at  Washington.  Bring  out  the  dialogue 
naturally,  denoting  the  changes  as  each  character  speaks.  The  last 
paragraph  is  a  strong  climax,  and  requires  sustained  feeling  and 
force. 

This  morning,  as  I  passed  into  the  Land  Office, 
the  flag  dropped  me  a  most  cordial  salutation,  and 
from  its  rippling  folds  I  heard  it  say :  "Good  morn- 
ing, Mr.  Flag-maker." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Old  Glory,"  I  said,  "you  are 
mistaken.  I  am  not  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  nor  the  Vice-President,  nor  a  member  of 
Congress,  nor  even  a  General  in  the  Army.  I  am 
only  a  Government  clerk." 

"I  greet  you  again,  Mr.  Flag-maker,"  replied  the 
gay  voice.  "I  know  you  well.  You  are  the  man 
who  worked  in  the  swelter  of  yesterday  straight- 
ening out  the  tangle  of  that  farmer's  homestead 
in  Idaho." 

"No,  I  am  not,"  I  was  forced  to  confess. 

"Well,  perhaps  you  are  the  one  who  discovered 
the  mistake  in  that  Indian  contract  in  Oklahoma?" 

"No,  wrong  again,"  I  said. 

"Well,  you  helped  to  clear  that  patent  for  the 
hopeful  inventor  in  New  York,  or  pushed  the  open- 
ing of  that  new  ditch  in  Colorado,  or  made  that 
mine  in  Illinois  more  safe,  or  brought  relief  to  the 
old  soldier  in  Wyoming.     No  matter,  whichever 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  113 

one  of  these  beneficent  individuals  you  may  happen 
to  be,  I  give  you  greeting,  Mr.  Flag-maker." 

I  was  about  to  pass  on,  feeling  that  I  was  being 
mocked,  when  the  flag  stopped  me  with  these  words : 

"You  know,  the  world  knows,  that  yesterday  the 
President  spoke  a  word  that  made  happier  the 
future  of  ten  million  peons  in  Mexico,  but  that  act 
looms  no  larger  on  the  flag  than  the  struggle  which 
the  boy  in  Georgia  is  making  to  win  the  corn-club 
prize  this  summer.  Yesterday  the  Congress  spoke 
a  word  which  will  open  the  door  of  Alaska,  but 
a  mother  in  Michigan  worked  from  sunrise  until 
far  into  the  night  to  give  her  boy  an  education. 
She,  too,  is  making  the  flag.  Yesterday  we  made 
a  new  law  to  prevent  financial  panics ;  yesterday, 
no  doubt  a  school-teacher  in  Ohio  taught  his  first 
letters  to  a  boy  who  will  write  a  song  that  will  give 
cheer  to  the  millions  of  our  race.  We  are  all  mak- 
ing the  flag." 

"But,"  I  said,  impatiently,  "these  people  were 
only  working." 

Then  came  the  great  shout  from  the  flag. 

"Let  me  tell  you  who  I  am.  The  work  that  we 
do  is  the  making  of  the  real  flag.  I  am  not  the  flag, 
at  all,  I  am  but  its  shadow.  I  am  whatever  you 
make  me,  nothing  more.  I  am  your  belief  in  your- 
self, your  dream  of  what  a  people  may  become. 
I  live  a  changing  life,  a  life  of  moods  and  pas- 
sions, of  heartbreaks  and  tired  muscles.  Some- 
times I  am  strong  with  pride,  when  men  do  an 
honest  work,  fitting  the  rails  together  truly.  Some- 
times I  droop,   for  then  purpose  has  gone   from 


114  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

me,  and  cynically  I  play  the  coward.  Sometimes 
I  am  loud,  garish,  and  full  of  that  ego  that  blasts 
judgment.  But  always  I  am  all  that  you  hope  to 
be  and  have  the  courage  to  try  for.  I  am  song  and 
fear,  struggle  and  panic,  and  ennobling  hope.  I 
am  the  day's  work  of  the  weakest  man  and  the 
largest  dream  of  the  most  daring.  I  am  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  courts,  statutes  and  statute- 
makers,  soldier  and  dreadnought,  drayman  and 
street-sweep,  cook,  counselor,  and  clerk.  I  am  the 
battle  of  yesterday  and  the  mistake  of  to-morrow. 
I  am  the  mystery  of  the  men  who  do  without 
knowing  why.  I  am  the  clutch  of  an  idea  and  the 
reasoned  purpose  of  resolution.  I  am  no  more 
than  what  you  believe  me  to  be,  and  I  am  all  that 
you  believe  I  can  be.  I  am  what  you  make  me, 
nothing  more.  I  swing  before  your  eyes  as  a 
bright  gleam  of  color,  a  symbol  of  yourself,  the 
pictured  suggestion  of  that  big  thing  which  makes 
this  nation.  My  stars  and  my  stripes  are  your 
dreams  and  your  labors.  They  are  bright  with 
cheer,  brilliant  with  courage,  firm  with  faith,  be- 
cause you  have  made  them  so  out  of  your  hearts, 
for  you  are  the  makers  of  the  flag,  and  it  is  well 
that  you  glory  in  the  making." 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  115 

Incentives  to  Patriotism 
David  J.  Burrill 

The  closing  of  a  speech  delivered  in  New  York  City  in  April,  1910. 
This  declamation  is  also  full  of  changes.  A  great  variety  of  emotions 
are  expressed,  and  these  should  be  denoted  by  proper  transitions  and 
voiced  in  appropriate  tones.  Speak  the  poetic  quotations  as  you 
would  prose,  and  the  rhythm  will  take  care  of  itself:  don't  spoil  the 
effect  by  the  use   of  a  sing-song  delivery. 

The  two  best  preachers  on  Manhattan  Island 
to-day  are  two  men  who  stand  in  bronze  by  the 
roadside;  one  of  them  on  the  west  side  drive,  in 
the  Park — a  man  in  his  regimentals,  who  was 
placed  there  to  commemorate  the  valor  of  the 
Seventh  Regiment.  On  the  pedestal  of  the  monu- 
ment is  inscribed  his  sermon  on  patriotism.  It 
reads:  "For  the  Glory  of  my  Country!" 

The  other  is  down  at  the  other  end  of  the  Island 
■ — Nathan  Hale!  Standing  on  the  busiest  street  in 
all  the  world;  at  the  very  heart  of  the  motion  of 
this  great  metropolis — the  young  school-master  and 
patriot,  with  his  hands  bound  behind  him;  ready 
to  go  out  to  Rutgers  orchard  to  be  hung!  And 
there  in  the  presence  of  the  passing  millions,  he 
is  preaching  as  no  clergyman  or  politician  can 
preach  with  living  lips,  those  last  words  of  his, 
"I  regret  in  dying  that  I  have  but  one  life  to  offer 
for  my  country." 

I  tell  you,  young  men,  back  of  all  the  good  advice 
that  will  be  given  you  to-night,  there  is  nothing 
like  this :  Love  the  Republic !  Believe  in  the  prin- 
ciples that  underlie  it !    Get  centered  there  and  you 


Ii6  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

will    never   be   bothered   about   your    duty   as    a 
citizen. 

I  have  heard  the  Scotch  people  sing  "Scots  wha 
hae  wi'  Wallace  bled" ;  I  have  heard  the  Germans 
sing  "Die  Wacht  am  Rhein,"  in  their  country ;  and 
I  have  myself  sung  with  the  Irish: 

I  met  with  Napper  Tandy  and  he  took  me  by  the  hand, 
He  said,  "How  is  old  Ireland  and  how  does  she  stand?" 
"She's  the  most  distressful  country  that  ever  you  have  seen, 
They're  hanging  men  and  women  for  the  wearin'  of  the 
green." 

I  have  heard  the  English  in  Hyde  Park  sing  "God 
Save  the  King !"  But  in  all  the  music  that  I  have 
ever  heard  in  the  glory  of  national  life,  I  have 
never  heard  an  anthem  that  stirs  my  blood  like: 

My  country,  'tis  of  thee! 
Sweet  land  of  Liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing! 
Long  may  our  land  be  bright 
With  Freedom's  holy  light; 
Protect  us  by  thy  might, 

Great  God,  our  Kinc! 

And  the  symbol  of  such  protection  is: 

Your  flag  and  my  flag,  and,  oh,  how  much  it  holds  I 
Your  land  and  my  land,  secure  within  its  folds; 
Your  heart  and  my  heart  beat  quicker  at  the  the  sight. 
Sun  kissed  and  wind  tossed,  the  red  and  blue  and  white ; 
The  one  flag— the  great  flag— the  flag  for  me  and  you, 
Glorifies  all  else  beside,  the  red  and  white  and  blue! 


POETICAL  SELECTIONS 

PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  poems  that  follow  were  selected  as  a  result 
of  the  following  tests:  (i)  Is  the  poem  of  real 
literary  merit?  Is  it  worth  memorizing?  (2)  In 
case  of  an  extract,  is  it  a  unit  in  thought?  (3)  Is 
it  otherwise  suited  to  the  purposes  of  reciting  be- 
fore an  audience?  Further,  poems  requiring  im- 
personation and  those  written  in  dialect  have  been 
omitted. 

The  oral  interpretation  of  literature  is  now  hap- 
pily being  restored  in  our  schools.  The  old-time 
practice  of  reciting  poetry  has  been  sadly  neglected 
in  modern  times,  for  most  poems  can  hardly  be 
appreciated  without  being  heard.  Memoriter  de- 
livery conduces  to  a  keener  appreciation,  and  is  a 
means  of  mental  enrichment  which  no  "modern" 
method  of  teaching  literature  can  equal. 

The  oral  expression  should,  of  course,  reveal  a 
sympathetic  interpretation  and  a  sincere,  natural 
manner.  The  capital  fault  in  reciting  poetry  is 
the  "sing-song"  tone,  with  its  regularly  recurring 
emphasis,  a  pause  at  the  end  of  each  line,  and  the 
falling  inflection  about  every  other  line,  regardless 
of  the  thought  to  be  expressed.  The  best  general 
rule  is,  to  read  poetry  as  you  would  prose,  and 

117 


ii8  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

the  rhythm  will  take  care  of  itself.  Another  com- 
mon fault  is  over-dramatic  and  excessive  gesture. 
The  traditional  elocutionist  is  wont  to  think  that 
in  the  oral  rendering  every  emotion  in  a  poem  must 
be  pictured  in  some  way  by  bodily  movements.  The 
voicing  of  genuine  emotion  is  rarely  accompanied 
by  physical  contortions.  For  the  most  effective 
oral  expression,  most  of  the  poems  in  this  book  re- 
quire few  or  no  gestures. 

Some  specific  suggestions  as  to  interpretation  and 
delivery  are  contained  in  comments  preceding  a 
number  of  the  following  poems. 


The  Wonderful  World 
IV.  B.  Rands 

This  poem  and  those  immediately  following  are  good  selections  for 
the  younger  children, — in  the  second,  third,  or  fourth  grades.  In 
speaking  this  poem,  think  of  the  world  and  the  things  it  contains,  aa 
you  speak.  Be  sure  to  place  the  proper  emphasis  in  the  last  two 
lines  of  the  last  stanza. 

I 

Great,  wide,  beautiful,  wonderful  world, 
With  the  wonderful  water  round  you  curled. 
And  the  wonderful  grass  upon  your  breast, — 
World,  you  are  beautifully  drest. 

2 

The  wonderful  air  is  over  me. 
And  the  wonderful  wind  is  shaking  the  tree. 
It  walks  on  the  water,  and  whirls  the  mills. 
And  talks  to  itself  on  the  tops  of  the  hills. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  1 19 

3 

You  friendly  Earth !  how  far  do  you  go 

With  the  wheatfields  that  nod  and  the  rivers  that 

flow, 
With  cities  and  gardens,  and  cliffs,  and  isles 
And  people  upon  you  for  thousands  of  miles? 

4 
Ah,  you  are  so  great,  and  I  am  so  small, 

I  tremble  to  think  of  you,  World,  at  all; 

And  yet,  when  I  said  my  prayers,  to-day, 

A  whisper  inside  me  seemed  to  say, 

"You  are  more  than  the  Earth,   though  you  are 

such  a  dot ; 

You  can  love  and  think,  and  the  Earth  cannot!" 

All  Things  Bright  and  Beautiful 
Cecil  Frances  Alexander 

Beware  of  a  sing-song  in  speaking  this  poem.  Use  the  rising  in. 
flection  at  the  end  of  each  line  except  at  the  close  of  each  stanza; 
and  the  last  lines  of  stanzas  4  and  6  should  also  be  passed  with  th» 
rising  inflection. 

I 

All  things  bright  and  beautiful, 
All  creatures  great  and  small. 

All  things  wise  and  wonderful, — 
The  Lord  God  made  them  all. 

2 
Each  little  flower  that  opens. 

Each  little  bird  that  sings, — 
He  made  their  glowing  colors, 

He  made  their  tiny  wings. 


120  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

3 
The  rich  man  in  his  castle, 

The  poor  man  at  his  gate, 

God  made  them,  high  or  lowly. 

And  order'd  their  estate. 

4 
The  purple-headed  mountain, 

The  river  running  by, 

The  morning,  and  the  sunset 

That  lighteth  up  the  sky. 

5 
The  cold  wind  in  the  winter, 

The  pleasant  summer  sun, 

The  ripe  fruits  in  the  garden, — 

He  made  them  every  one. 

6 

The  tall  trees  in  the  greenwood, 
The  meadows  where  we  play, 

The  rushes  by  the  water 
We  gather  every  day ; — 

7 
He  gaves  us  eyes  to  see  them. 

And  lips  that  we  might  tell 

How  great  is  God  Almighty, 

Who  hath  made  all  things  well. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  121 

Song  of  Life 

Charles  MacKay 

N'ote  that  this  poem,  up  to  near  the  close,  illustrates  and  leads  up 
to  the  thought  contained  in  the  last  four  lines,  and  these  lines  should 
be  given  with  proper  emphasis  and  strong  force.  No  gestures  are 
needed. 

I 

A  TRAVELER  on  a  dusty  road 

Strewed  acorns  on  the  lea ; 
And  one  took  root  and  sprouted  up, 

And  grew  into  a  tree. 
Love  sought  its  shade  at  evening-time, 

To  breathe  its  early  vows ; 
And  Age  was  pleased,  in  heights  of  noon, 

To  bask  beneath  its  boughs. 
The  dormouse  loved  its  dangling  twigs, 

The  birds  sweet  music  bore — 
It  stood  a  glory  in  its  place, 

A  blessing  evermore. 

2 

A  little  spring  had  lost  its  way 

Amid  the  grass  and  fern ; 
A  passing  stranger  scooped  a  well 

Where  weary  men  might  turn. 
He  walled  it  in,  and  hung  with  care 

A  ladle  on  the  brink; 
He  thought  not  of  the  deed  he  did, 

But  judged  that  Toil  might  drink. 
He  passed  again,  and  lo !  the  well, 

By  summer  never  dried. 
Had  cooled  ten  thousand  parched  tongues. 

And  saved  a  life  beside. 


122  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

3 

A  nameless  man,  amid  the  crowd 

That  thronged  the  daily  mart, 
Let  fall  a  word  of  hope  and  love 

Unstudied  from  the  heart, 
A  whisper  on  the  tumult  thrown, 

A  transitory  breath. 
It  raised  a  brother  from  the  dust, 

It  saved  a  soul  from  death. 
O  germ !    O  fount !    O  word  of  love ! 

O  thought  at  random  cast! 
Ye  were  but  little  at  the  first, 

But  mighty  at  the  last.  * 


Which  Loved  Best? 

Joy  Allison 

Take  special   pains  to  give   the  quotations  naturally  and  to   place 
the  emphasis  so  that  the  character  of  each  child  is  fittingly  portrayed. 

I 

"I  LOVE  you,  mother,"  said  little  John. 
Then  forgetting  his  work,  his  cap  went  on, 
And  he  was  off  to  the  garden  swing, 
Leaving  his  mother  the  wood  to  bring. 


"I  love  you,  mother,"  said  little  Nell, 
"I  love  you  better  than  tongue  can  tell." 
Then  she  teased  and  pouted  half  the  day. 
Till  mother  rejoiced  when  she  went  to  play. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  123 

3 
"I  love  you,  mother,"  said  little  Fan. 
"To-day  I'll  help  you  all  I  can." 
To  the  cradle  then  she  did  softly  creep, 
And  rocked  the  baby  till  it  fell  asleep. 

4 
Then  stepping  softly,  she  took  the  broom, 
And  swept  the  floor  and  dusted  the  room; 
Busy  and  happy  all  day  was  she, 
Helpful  and  cheerful  as  child  could  be. 

5 
"I  love  you,  mother,"  again  they  said — 

Three  little  children,  going  to  bed. 

How  do  you  think  that  mother  guessed 

Which  of  them  really  loved  her  best? 


In  School  Days 
John-  Greenleaf  Whittier 

You  will  find  several  lines  in  this  poem  which  should  be  passed 
without  pausing  at  the  end.  Thus  you  will  avoid  any  tendency  to  a 
sing-song  delivery.  Aim  to  give  naturally  the  quotation  in  stanza  9, 
and  be  sure  to  employ  a  rather  long  pause  between  stanzas  9  and  10. 

I 

Still  sits  the  schoolhouse  by  the  road, 

A  ragged  beggar  sunning ; 
Around  it  still  the  sumachs  grow. 

And  blackberry  vines  are  running. 


124  IV inning  DeclamcMions-How  to  Speak  Them 

2 

Within,  the  master's  desk  is  seen, 
Deep-scarred  by  raps  official ; 

The  warping  floor,  the  battered  seats, 
The  jack-knife's  carved  initial. 

3 

The  charcoal  frescos  on  its  wall  ; 

Its  door's  worn  sill,  betraying 
The  feet  that,  creeping  slow  to  school. 

Went  storming  out  to  playing! 

4 
Long  years  ago  a  winter  sun 

Shone  over  it  at  setting; 
Lit  up  its  western  window-panes, 

And  low  eaves'  icy  fretting. 

5 
It  touched  the  tangled  golden  curls. 

And  brown  eyes  full  of  grieving. 
Of  one  who  still  her  steps  delayed 

When  all  the  school  were  leaving. 

6 

For  near  her  stood  the  little  boy 

Her  childish  favor  singled; 
His  cap  pulled  low  upon  a  face 

Where  pride  and  shame  were  mingled. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  125 

7 
Pushing  with  restless  feet  the  snow 

To  right  and  left,  he  lingered ; — 

As  restlessly  her  tiny  hands 

The  blue-checked  apron  fingered. 

8 
He  saw  her  lift  her  eyes ;  he  felt 

The  soft  hand's  light  caressing, 
And  heard  the  tremble  of  her  voice, 

As  if  a  fault  confessing: 

9 
"I'm  sorry  that  I  spelt  the  word : 

I  hate  to  go  above  you, 

Because," — the  brown  eyes  lower  fell, — 

"Because,  you  see,  I  love  you !" 

10 
Still  memory  to  a  gray-haired  man 

That  sweet  child- face  is  showing, 
Dear  girl !  the  grasses  on  her  grave 

Have  forty  years  been  growing! 

II 
He  lives  to  learn,  in  life's  hard  school, 

How  few  who  pass  above  him 
Lament  their  triumph  and  his  loss, 

Like  her, — because  they  love  him. 


126  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Little  Brown  Hands 

John  Boyle  O'Reilly 

This  poem  is  reputed  to  have  been  written  by  a  girl  fifteen  years 
old,  and  it  is  pronounced  by  the  author  to  be  the  finest  he  ever 
read.  He  published  these  lines  four  times,  declaring  that  he  liked 
them  better  every  time  he  read  them.  A  moderate  rate  should  be  used 
in  delivery,  dwelling  upon  the  words  that  chiefly  present  the  pictures. 
Strong  force  should  be  used  in  the  last  two  stanzas,  making  the 
closing  words  of  the  last  stanza  the  climax  of  the  whole. 

I 

They  drive  up  the  cows  from  the  pasture, 

Up  through  the  long  shady  lane, 
Where  the   quail   whistles  loud  in  the  wheatfield 

That  is  yellow  with  ripening  grain. 

2 

They  find  in  the  thick  waving  grasses 

Where  the  scarlet-lipped  strawberry  grows; 

They  gather  the  earliest  snowdrops 
And  the  first  crimson  bud  of  the  rose. 

3 

They  toss  the  hay  in  the  meadow 

They  gather  the  elder-bloom  white, 
They  find  where  the  dusky  grapes  purple 
In  the  soft-tinted  October  light. 

4 

They  know  where  the  apples  hang  ripest 

And  are  sweeter  than  Italy's  wines; 
They  know  where  the  fruit  hangs  thickest 

On  the  long,  thorny  blackberry  vines. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  127 

5 

They  gather  the  delicate  seaweeds, 

And  built  tiny  castles  of  sand; 
They  pick  up  the  beautiful  seashells 
Fairy  barks  that  have  drifted  to  land. 

6 

They  wave  from  the  tall,  rock  treetops. 
Where  the  oriole's  hammock-nest  swings. 

And  at  nighttime  are  foiled  in  slumber 
By  a  song  that  a  fond  mother  sings. 

7 

Those  who  toil  bravely  are  strongest. 

The  humble  and  poor  become  great ; 
And  from  those  brown-handed  children 
Shall  grow  mighty  rulers  of  state. 

8 
The  pen  of  the  author  and  statesman, 

The  noble  and  wise  of  the  land — 
The  sword  and  chisel  and  palette, 

Shall  be  held  in  the  little  brown  hand. 


128  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Flag  Goes  By 

Henry  H.  Bennett 

Although  "Hats  off"  should  be  given  in  the  quick,  ringing  tones 
of  a  command,  avoid  saying  hat-soff.  Note  that  the  marked  transi- 
tions in  this  poem  come  between  stanzas  2  and  3,  and  5  and  6. 
Stanzas  i  and  2  describe  the  flag  as  it  passes  by.  Stanzas  3,  4,  and  5 
tell  of  what  the  flag  stands  for,  and  these  should  be  given  in  slow 
rate,  full  orotund  tones,  and  with  strong  force.  Stanza  6  is  simply 
a  refrain — an  echo  of  stanza  i — and  thus  makes  a  pleasing  and  ef- 
fectiye  close. 

I 

Hats  off! 

Along  the  street  there  comes 

A  blare  of  bugles,  a  ruffle  of  drums, 

A  flash  of  color  beneath  the  sky: 

Hats  off ! 
The  flag  is  passing  by ! 

2 
Blue  and  crimson  and  white  it  shines. 
Over  the  steel-tipped,  ordered  lines. 

Hatsofif! 
The  colors  before  us  fly; 
But  more  than  the  flag  is  passing  by. 

3 

Sea  fights  and  land  fights,  grim  and  great, 

Fought  to  make  and  to  save  the  State: 
Weary  marches  and  sinking  ships; 
Cheers  of  victory  on  dying  lips; 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  129 

4 
Days  of  plenty  and  years  of  peace; 
March  of  a  strong  land's  swift  increase; 
Equal  justice,  right  and  law, 
Stately  honor  and  reverend  awe; 

5 
Sign  of  a  nation,  great  and  strong 
To  ward  her  people  from  foreign  wrong: 
Pride  and  glory  and  honor, — all 
Live  in  the  colors  to  stand  or  falL 

6 

Hats  off! 
Along  the  street  there  comes 
A  blare  of  bugles,  a  ruffle  of  drums ; 
And  loyal  hearts  are  beating  high: 

Hats  off! 
The  flag  is  passing  by! 

To  the  Man  Behind  the  Plow 

Jake  H.  Harrison 

Note  that  matiy  of  the  lines  in  this  poem  should  be  passed  without 
pausing  at  the  end.  In  the  first  stanza,  for  example,  no  pause  should 
occur  after  "furrow"  and  "nature."  Note  also  that  the  first  three 
stanzas  are  descriptive  and  praiseful  of  the  man  behind  the  plow, 
and  require  moderate  rate  in  delivery.  Stanza  4  begins  an  ex- 
hortation, or  appeal,  and  from  this  point  on  increased  rate  and  force 
are   required. 

I 

When  the  ground  is  nice  and  mellow 

And  the  air  is  crisp  and  fine, 
And  you  cut  the  turning  furrow 

Like  the  laying  of  a  line; 


130  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

While  aroma  pulses  upward 

Making  glad  the  vagrant  air, 
There  is  something  sweet  in  nature 

That  is  comforting  and  rare. 

2 

There  is  something  in  the  furrow 

As  you  walk  behind  the  plow, 
Giving  strength  to  healthy  labor 

And  your  muscles  feel  it  now; 
There  is  pleasure  in  the  turning 

Of  the  fertile,  mellow  soil, 
There  is  glory  in  the  doing 

Of  a  useful,  honest  toil. 

3 

There  is  honor  in  the  gaining 

Of  a  peaceful  livelihood, 
There  is  motive  in  your  actions 

That  will  do  your  country  good; 
While  you  help  to  feed  the  millions 

And  relieve  the  hunger  stress, 
You  perform  a  sacred  labor 

That  the  Lord  will  surely  bless. 

4 
Bear  the  banner  proudly  forward, 

You  are  working  to  the  van, 
Cut  the  furrow  straight,  remember, 

Though  a  toiler,  be  a  man; 
You  must  feed — then  rule  the  nations 

Though  you  are  a  country  wight, 
Do  it  with  an  honest  purpose 

And  the  brawny  arm  of  Right. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  131 

5 

Cease  to  be  like  driven  cattle, 

Turn  the  tables — take  command, 
Curb  the  bloody  lords  of  battle, 

Soothe  and  pacify  the  land; 
Grow  no  longer  "cannon  fodder" 

For  the  use  of  warring  kings, 
But  produce  the  blessed  product 

That  from  justice  ever  springs. 

6 

Bid  the  warring  Nations  "Stop  it !" 

You  possess  the   strength — then  move, 
Stop  this  devastating  conflict. 

And  your  right  to  govern  prove ; 
Sound  the  tocsin  "Peace  and  Plenty," 

Wind   your   trumpet   now,   and   blow! 
Starve  the  war  lords  to  submission, 

Say  "You  Must!"  and  make  it  so. 

Aspirations 

Anonymous  ^ 

Think  of  explaining  to  and  impressing  upon  your  hearers  the 
thought  of  this  poem.  Render  it  in  a  conversational  tone,  avoiding 
the  sing-song  style.  Make  a  special  effort  to  place  the  emphasis 
so  as  to  bring  out  the  thought. 

I 

Our  aims  are  all  too  high;  we  try 

To  gain  the  summit  at  a  bound. 
When  we  should  reach  it  step  by  step, 

And  climb  the  ladder  round  by  round. 


132  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

He  who  would  climb  the  heights  sublime, 
Or  breathe  the  purer  air  of  life, 

Must  not  expect  to  rest  in  ease, 
But  brace  himself  for  toil  or  strife. 

2 

We  should  not  in  our  blindness  seek 

To  grasp  alone  for  grand  and  great. 
Disdaining  every  smaller  good, — 

For  trifles  make  the  aggregate. 
And  if  a  cloud  should  hover  o'er 

Our  weary  path-way  like  a  pall, 
Remember  God  permits  it  there. 

And  His  good  purpose  reigns  o'er  all. 

3 
Life  should  be  full  of  earnest  work. 

Our   hearts   undashed   by   fortune's    frown; 
Let  perseverance  conquer  fate, 

And  merit  seize  the  victor's  crown. 
The  battle  is  not  to  the  strong, 

The  race  not  always  to  the  fleet ; 
And  he  who  seeks  to  pluck  the  stars. 

Will  lose  the  jewels  at  his  feet. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  133 

A  Texas  Mockingbird 
Will  P.  Lockhart 

See  and  hear  the  mockingbird  as  you  speak.  The  rate  should  be 
moderate  to  slow.  Note  that  each  odd-numbered  line  in  stanza  i 
requires  no  pause  at  the  end.  Bring  out  the  contrast  expressed 
in  the  first  and  last  four  lines  of  stanza  3,  not  failing  to  emphasize 
"mine." 

I 

When  the  hush  of  night  has  fallen 

Over  all  the  countryside, 
And  the  harvest  moon's  refulgence 

Is  a  glorious  silvery  tide, 
When  the  balmy  Southern  breezes 

In  tlie  murmurous  trees  are  heard. 
Then  begins  the  wondrous  carol 

Of  the  Texas  mockingbird. 

2 

Strains  so  pure,  so  full  of  beauty, 

Not  a  discord  mars  his  note; 
Like  a  tide  of  liquid  silver 

Pours  his  medley  from  his  throat. 
As  designed  by  his  creator. 

Nature's  king  of  song  is  he. 
And  a  bird  of  various  nature — 

All  his  tribe's  epitome. 

3 

Let  the  painted  prima  donna 

Ply  the  utmost  of  her  art. 
To  the  roar  of  fulsome  plaudits 
That  are  empty  as  her  heart; 


134  Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them 

Mine  the  stage  of  moonlit  verdure. 
By  the  perfumed  zephyrs  stirred; 

Mine  the  songs  of  God's  designing, 
By  a  Texas  mockingbird. 

For  Those  Who  Fail 

Joaquin  Miller 

Study  on  the  proper  placing  of  emphasis  to  bring  out  the  thought. 
If  you  think  of  some  one  you  have  known  who  has  failed  and  yet 
deserves  praise,  it  will  help  you  to  give  this  poem  with  appreciation 
and  feeling. 

I 

"All  honor  to  him  who  shall  win  the  prize," 
The  world  has  cried  for  a  thousand  years, 

But  to  him  who  tries,  and  who  fails  and  dies, 
I  give  great  honor  and  glory  and  tears. 

2 

Give  glory  and  honor  and  pitiful  tears 
To  all  who  fail  in  their  deeds  sublime. 

Their  ghosts  are  many  in  the  van  of  years, 
They  were  born  with  time  in  advance  of  time. 

3 

Oh,  great  is  the  hero  who  wins  a  name, 
But  greater  many  and  many  a  time. 

Some  pale-faced  fellow  who  dies  in  shame 
And  lets  God  finish  the  thought  sublime. 

4 
And  great  is  the  man  with  a  sword  undrawn, 

And  good  is  the  man  who  refrains  from  wine, 
But  the  man  who  fails  and  yet  still  fights  on, 

Lo!  he  is  the  twin-born  brother  of  mine. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  135 

The  Rich  Man  and  the  Poor  Man 

Ivan  Chemnitzer 

You  will  need  to  read  this  poem  over  carefully  two  or  three  times 
in  order  to  grasp  the  thought  and  to  express  it  naturally.  A  conversa- 
tional style  is  best  adapted  to  the  delivery.  Do  not  fail  to  bring 
out  the  many  changes  that  occur,  or  to  express  the  irony  contained 
in  stanza  4.  The  matter  of  emphasis  should  be  thoughtfully 
studied.  If,  for  example,  you  fail  to  emphasize  "poor"  at  the  begin- 
ning of  stanza  5,  one  might  think  you  were  still  speaking  of  the 
rich  man  described  in  stanza  4. 

I 

So  goes  the  world; — if  wealthy,  you  may  call 
This  friend,  that  brother ; — friends  and  brothers  all ; 
Though  you  are  worthless — witless — never  mind 

it; 

You  may  have  been  a  stable-boy — what  then? 
'Tis  wealth,  good  sir,  makes  honorable  men. 
You  seek  respect,  no  doubt,  and  you  will  find  it. 

2 

But  if  you  are  poor,  Heaven  help  you!  though  your 
sire 

Had  royal  blood  within  him,  and  though  you 

Possess  the  intellect  of  angels,  too, 
'Tis  all  in  vain ; — the  world  will  ne'er  inquire 
On  such  a  score:  Why  should  it  take  the  pains? 
'Tis  easier  to  weigh  purses,  sure,  than  brains, 

3 

I  once  saw  a  poor  fellow,  keen  and  clever, 

Witty  and  wise: — he  paid  a  man  a  visit, 
And  no  one  noticed  him,  and  no  one  ever 
Gave    him    a    welcome.      "Stranger!"    cried    I, 
"whence  is  it?" 


136  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

He  walked  on  this  side,  then  on  that, 
He  tried  to  introduce  a  social  chat; 
Now  here,  now  there,  in  vain  he  tried; 
Some  formally  and  freezingly  replied, 

And  some 
Said  by  their  silence — "Better  stay  at  home.'* 

4 

A  rich  man  burst  the  door; 

As  Croesus  rich,  I'm  sure 

He  could  not  pride  himself  upon  his  wit, 

And  as  for  wisdom,  he  had  none  of  it; 

He  had  what's  better;  he  had  wealth. 

What  a  confusion ! — all  stand  up  erect — 
These  crowd  around  to  ask  him  of  his  health; 

These  bow  in  honest  duty  and  respect; 
And  these  arrange  a  sofa  or  a  chair. 
And  these  conduct  him  there. 
"Allow  me,  sir,  the  honor" ; — then  a  bow 
Down  to  the  earth. — Is't  possible  to  show 
Meet  gratitude  for  such  kind  condescension? 

5 
The  poor  man  hung  his  head. 
And  to  himself  he  said, 

"This  is  indeed  beyond  my  comprehension"; 
Then  looking  round. 
One  friendly  face  he  found. 

And  said,  "Pray  tell  me  why  is  wealth  preferred 
To  wisdom?" — "That's  a  silly  question,  friend!" 
Replied  the  other — "have  you  never  heard, 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  137 

A  man  may  lend  his  store 
Of  gold  or  silver  ore, 

But  wisdom  none  can  borrow,  none  can  lend?" 

The  Liberty  Bell 

Anonymous 

This  poem  has  long  been  a  favorite  for  recitation,  though  it  is 
sometimes  ruined  in  delivery  by  too  frequent  and  over-dramatic 
gestures.  The  selection  is  full  of  changes,  and  can  hardly  be  spoken 
in  a  lifeless,  monotonous  way  if  you  appreciate  at  all  the  scenes 
described.  Think  of  the  old  Independence  Hall  at  Philadelphia  as 
you  tell  the  stofy,  and  see  this  now  and  again  by  glancing  at  it 
through  a  window  in  the  auditorium  where  you  are  speaking.  The 
action  described  in  stanzas  i  and  2  requires  a  rather  rapid  move- 
ment and  ringing  tones.  Give  the  quotations  in  stanza  3  just  as 
you  imagine  each  of  the  different  persons  spoke.  The  only  gesture 
expression  required  here  is  to  turn  to  different  parts  of  the  audience 
as  each  character  is  quoted.  Stanza  5  marks  a  transition  and  should 
be  preceded  by  a  pause.  At  stanza  6  the  rate  is  much  faster,  con- 
tinuiMg  until  the  boy's  "joyous  cry"  is  uttered.  Then  another  transi- 
tion, or  change,  occurs,  the  rate  being  rapid  till  the  end  of  stanza  8. 
Here  again  a  change  occurs,  and  stanza  9  should  be  given  with  slow 
rate,  round,  full  tones,  and  strong  force. 

I 

There  was  tumult  in  the  city, 

In  the  quaint  old  Quaker  town, 
And  the  streets  were  rife  with  people 

Pacing  restless  up  and  down; 
People  gathering  at  corners, 

Where  they  whispered  each  to  each, 
And  the  sweat  stood  on  their  temples, 

With  the  earnestness  of  speech. 

2 

As  the  bleak  Atlantic  currents 

Lash  the  wild  Newfoundland  shore, 


138  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

So  they  beat  against  the  State  House, 
So  they  surged  against  the  door; 

And  the  mingling  of  their  voices 
Made  a  harmony  profound, 

Till  the  quiet  street  of  Chestnut, 
Was  all  turbulent  with  sound. 

3 

"Will  they  do  it?"     "Dare  they  do  it?" 

"Who  is  speaking?"     "What's  the  news?" 
"What  of  Adams?"     "What  of  Sherman?" 

"Oh,  God  grant  they  won't  refuse!" 
"Make  some  way  there!"     "Let  me  nearer!" 

"I  am  stifling!"     "Stifle  then; 
When  a  nation's  life's  at  hazard. 

We've  no  time  to  think  of  men!" 

4 
So  they  beat  against  the  portal, — 

Man  and  woman,  maid  and  child; 
And  the  July  sun  in  heaven 

On  the  scene  looked  down  and  smiled; 
The  same  sun  that  saw  the  Spartan 

Shed  his  patriot  blood  in  vain, 
Now  beheld  the  soul  of  freedom 

All  unconquered  rise  again, 

5 

Aloft  in  that  high  steeple 

Sat  the  bellman,  old  and  gray; 
He  was  weary  of  the  tyrant 

And  his  iron-sceptred  sway; 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  139 

So  he  sat  with  one  hand  ready 

On  the  clapper  of  the  bell, 
When  his  eye  should  catch  the  signal, 

Of  the  glorious  news  to  tell. 

6 

See !  see !  the  dense  crowd  quivers 

Through  all  its  lengthy  line. 
As  the  boy  beside  the  portal 

Looks  forth  to  give  the  sign ! 
With  his  small  hands  upward  lifted, 

Breezes  dallying  with  his  hair, 
Hark !  with  deep,  clear  intonation, 

Breaks  his  young  voice  on  the  air. 

7 

Hushed  the  people's  swelling  murmur. 

List  the  boy's  strong  joyous  cry! 
"Ring!"  he   shouts   aloud;   "Ring!   Grandpa! 

Ring!  Oh,  Ring  for  LIBERTY!" 
And  straightway,  at  the  signal. 

The  old  bellman  lifts  his  hand. 
And  sends  the  good  news,  making 

Iron  music  through  the  land. 

8 

How  they  shouted  !    What  rejoicing ! 

How  the  old  bell  shook  the  air. 
Till  the  clang  of  freedom  ruffled 

The  calm  gliding  Delaware! 
How  the  bonfires  and  the  torches 

Shone  uoon  the  night's   repose, 


140  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

And  from  the  flames,  like  Phoenix, 
Fair  Liberty  arose! 

9 

That  old  bell  now  is  silent, 

And  hushed  its  iron  tongue, 
But  the  spirit  it  awakened 

Still  lives — forever  young. 
And  while  we  greet  the  sunlight 

On  the  Fourth  of  each  July, 
We'll  ne'er  forget  the  bellman, 

Who,  'twixt  the  earth  and  sky. 
Rung  out  Our  Independence, 

Which,  please  God,  shall  never  die! 


Prospice 

Robert  Browning 

"Prospiee"  is  the  Latin  for  "outlook,"  or  literally,  "Look  forward." 
The  poet  here  contemplates  the  end  of  life.  It  requires  a  mature 
mind  to  grasp  the  thought,  and  a  pupil  below  the  sixth  or  seventh 
grades  should  hardly  attempt  orally  to  interpret  this  poem.  The 
poet  would  face  death  open-eyed  and  fighting.  Note  the  play  of  the 
deepest  and  strongest  emotions  as  the  "Arch  Fear"  is  first  faced, 
then  conquered,  and  blended,  into  a  "peace  out  of  pain,"  then  the 
climax  is  reached  in  the  expressed  faith,  trust,  and  adoration  borne 
by  the  three  closing  lines. 

I 

Fear  death? — to  feel  the  fog  in  my  throat, 

The  mist  in  my  face. 
When  the  snows  begin,  and  the  blasts  denote 

I  am  nearing  the  place, 
The  power  of  the  night,  the  press  of  the  storm. 

The  post  of  the  foe; 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Theffi  141 

Where  he  stands,  the  Arch  Fear  in  a  visible  form, 

Yet  the  strong  man  iiiust  go ; 
For  the  journey  is  done  and  the  summit  attained, 

And  the  barriers  fall. 
Though  a  battle's  to  fight  ere  the  guerdon  be  gained, 

The  reward  of  it  all. 
I  was  ever  a  fighter,  so — one  fight  more, 

The  best  and  the  last ! 
I  would  hate  that  death  bandaged  my  eyes,  and 
forebore. 

And  bade  me  creep  past. 

2 

No !  let  me  taste  the  whole  of  it,  fare  like  my  peers, 

The  heroes  of  old. 
Bear  the  brunt,  in  a  minute  pay  glad  life's  arrears 

Of  pain,  darkness  and  cold. 
For  sudden  the  worst  turns  the  best  to  the  brave. 

The  black  minute's  at  end, 
And  the  elements'  rage,  the  fiend-voices  that  rave. 

Shall  dwindle,  shall  blend, 
Shall  change,  shall  become  first  a  peace  out  of  pain, 

Then  a  light,  then  thy  breast, 
O  thou  soul  of  my  soul !     I  shall  clasp  thee  again, 

And  with  God  be  the  rest! 


142  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Where  the  West  Begins 

Arthur  Chapman 

This  and  the  four  other  selections  immediately  following  are 
laudatory  of  sections  and  States.  The  choosing  of  any  of  them  for 
recitation  will  of  course  depend  upon  the  speaker's  sympathies.  The 
poem  that  follows  requires  special  study  to  determine  the  proper  em- 
phasis. In  the  first  place,  the  word  or  words  that  chiefly  present 
each  picture  should  be  emphasized.  And  then,  in  the  six  repetitions 
of  the  line,  "that's  where  the  West  begins,"  seek  variety  in  emphasis. 
Thus,  when  this  line  is  first  reached,  the  obvious  stress  is  on  "that's" 
and  "West";  the  next  time,  say,  on  "West"  only;  then  on  "that's" 
only,  ending  the  line  with  the  rising  inflection;  and  at  the  close 
distribute  the  emphasis  so  that  no  single  word  is  specially  stressed. 
The  suggested  variation  is  suggestive  only,  but  the  point  is  that  in 
a  repetition  of  words,  phrases,  or  clauses,  one  should  seek  variety  in 
emphasis. 

I 

Out  where  the  hand  clasp's  a  little  stronger, 
Out  where  a  smile  dwells  a  little  longer, 

That's   where  the  West  begins. 
Out  where  the  sun  is  a  little  brighter, 
Where  the  snows  that  fall  are  a  trifle  whiter, 
Where  the  bonds  of  home  are  a  wee  bit  tighter — 

That's  where  the  West  begins. 

2 
Out  where  the  skies  are  a  trifle  bluer. 
Out  where  friendship's  a  little  truer. 

That's  where  the  West  begins. 
Out  where  a  fresher  breeze  is  blowing. 
Where  there's  laughter  in  every  streamlet  flowing, 
Where  there's  more  of  reaping  and  less  of  sowing — 

That's  where  the  West  begins. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  143 

3 

Out  where  the  world  is  in  the  making, 
Where  fewer  hearts  with  despair  are  aching — 

That's  where  the  West  begins. 
Where  there's  more  of  singing  and  less  of  sighing, 
Where  there's  more  of  giving  and  less  of  buying, 
And  a  man  makes  friends  without  half  trying — 
That's  where  the  West  begins. 
\ 

The  West 

Douglass  Malloch 

The  suggestions  made  regarding  the  preceding  poem  largely  apply 
also  to  this  one.  Especial  care  should  be  exercised  in  emphasizing  the 
words  that  express-the  contrasts,  such  as  "East,"  "West,"  etc. 

I 

Men  look  to  the  East  for  the  dawning  things,  for 

the  light  of  a  rising  sun, 
But  they  look  to  the  West,  to  the  crimson  West,  for 

the  things  that  are  done,  are  done. 
The  eastward  sun  is  a  new-made  hope  from  the 

dark  of  the  night  distilled; 
But  the  westward  sun  is  a  sunset  sun,  is  the  sun 

of  a  hope  fulfilled ! 

2 

So  out  of  the  East  they  have  always  come,  the 

cradle  that  saw  the  birth 
Of  all  of  the  heart-warm  hopes  of  man  and  all  of 

the  hopes  of  earth — 
For  out  of  the  East  arose  a  Christ  and  out  of  the 

East  has  gleamed 
The  dearest  dream  and  the  clearest  dream  that  ever 

a  prophet  dreamed. 


144  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

3 

And  into  the  waiting  West  they  go  with  the  dream- 
child  of  th»  East, 

And  find  the  hopes  that  they  hoped  of  old  are  a 
hundred-fold  increased. 

For  here  in  the  East  we  dream  our  dreams  of  the 
things  we  hope  to  do, 

And  here  in  the  West,  the  crimson  West,  the  dreams 
of  the  East  come  true! 

Land  of  the  South 

Alexander  Beaufort  Meek 

The  emotion  of  tender  compassion  which  runs  through  this  poem 
should  be  appreciated  and  expressed  in  musical  tones  charged  with 
deep  feeling.  Note  the  slight  change  in  emotion  that  appears  in 
the  last  stanza,  the  climax  at  the  close  requiring  strong,  ringing 
tones. 

I 

Land  of  the  South ! — imperial  land ! — 

How  proud  thy  mountains  rise ! — 
How  sweet  thy  scenes  on  every  hand! 

How  fair  thy  covering  skies  ! 
But  not  for  this, — oh,  not  for  these, 

I  love  thy  fields  to  roam, — 
Thou  hast  a  dearer  spell  to  me, — 

Thou  art  my  native  home ! 

2 

The  rivers  roll  their  liquid  wealth, 

Unequaled  to  the  sea, — 
Thy  hills  and  valleys  bloom  with  health, 

And  green  with  verdure  be! 


/ 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  145 

But,  not  for  thy  proud  ocean  streams, 

Not  for  thine  azure  dome, — 
Sweet,  sunny  South  ! — I  cUng  to  thee,— t- 

Thou  art  my  native  home ! 

3 

I've  stood  beneath  ItaHa's  clime, 

Beloved  of  tale  and  song, — 
On  Helvyn's  hills,  proud  and  sublime. 

Where  nature's  wonders  throng; 
By  Tempe's  classic  sunlit  streams, 

Where  gods,  of  old,  did  roam, — 
But  ne'er  have  found  so  fair  a  land 

As  thou — my  native  home ! 

4 
And  thou  hast  prouder  glories,  too, 

Than  nature  ever  gave, — 
Peace  sheds  o'er  thee  her  genial  dew, 

And  Freedom's  pinions  wave, — 
Fair  Science  flings  her  pearls  around. 

Religion  lifts  her  dome, — 
These,  these  endear  thee  to  my  heart, — 

My  own,  loved  native  home ! 

5 
And  "heaven's  best  gift  to  man"  is  thine, — 

God  bless  thy  rosy  girls ! — 
Like  sylvan  flowers,  they  sweetly  shine, — 

Their  hearts  are  pure  as  pearls ! 
And  grace  and  goodness  circle  them. 

Where'er  their  footsteps  roam — 
How  can  I  then,  whilst  loving  them, 

Not  love  my  native  home! 


146  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

6 

Land  of  the  South — imperial  land! — 

Then  here's  a  health  to  thee, — 
Long  as  thy  mountain  barriers  stand, 

May'st  thou  be  blest  and  free ! — 
May  dark  dissension's  banner  ne'er 

Wave  o'er  thy  fertile  loam, — 
But  should  it  come,  there's  one  will  die, 

To  save  his  native  home! 


The  Call  of  Kansas 

Esther  M.  Clark 

In  speaking;  this  selection,  almost  any  Western  State  could  be  sub- 
stituted for  Kansas,  if  desired,  for  the  poem  might  properly  be 
entitled,  "The  Call  of  the  Prairie."  Notice  that  the  author  writes 
from  a  Southern  seaport.  This  selection,  with  its  home  sentiment 
and  appeal  to  the  imagination,  requires  for  delivery  a  moderate 
to  slow  rate  and  sustained  sympathy  and  feeling. 

I 

Surfeited  here  with  beauty,  and  the  sensuous- 
sweet  perfume 

Borne  in  from  a  thousand  gardens  and  orchards  of 
orange  bloom ; 

Awed  by  the  silent  mountains,  stunned  by  the 
breakers'  roar — 

The  restless  ocean  pounding  and  tugging  away  at 
the  shore — 

I  lie  on  the  warm  sand  beach  and  hear,  above  the 
cry  of  the  sea. 

The  voice  of  the  prairie,  calling,  calling  me. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  147 

2 

Sweeter  to  me  than  the  salt  sea  spray,  the  fragrance 

of  summer  rains  ; 
Nearer  my  heart  than  these  mighty  hills  are  the 

windswept  Kansas  plains; 
Dearer  the  sight  of  a  shy,  wild  rose  by  the  road- 
side's dusty  way 
Than  all  the  splendor  of  poppy-fields,  ablaze  in  the 

sun  of  May. 
Gay  as  the  bold  poinsettia  is,  and  the  burden  of 

pepper  trees, 
The  sunflower,  tawny  and  gold  and  brown,  is  richer, 

to  me,  than  these. 
And   rising  ever   above  the   song  of   the   hoarse, 

insistent  sea, 
The  voice  of  the  prairie,  calling,  calling  me. 

3 

Kansas,  beloved  Mother,  to-day  in  an  alien  land, 

Yours  is  the  name  I  have  idly  traced  with  a  bit 

of  wood  in  the  sand. 
The  name  that,  sprung  from  a  scornful  lip,  will 

make  the  warm  blood  start; 
The  name  that  is  graven,  hard  and  deep,  on  the 

core  of  my  loyal  heart. 
O  higher,  clearer  and  stronger  yet,  than  the  boom 

of  the  savage  sea, 
The  voice  of  the  prairie,  calling,  calling  me. 


148  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Texas 

Henry  Van  Dyke 

In  this  poem,  which  was  read  at  the  dedication  of  Rice  Institute,  at 
Houston,  Texas,  October  12,  1912,  Mr.  Van  Dyke  has  made  use 
of  an  Indian  legend  to  the  effect  that  when  the  Indian  hears  the 
bees  in  the  forest  he  knows  that  he  must  move  on,  for  the  whites 
are  near.  The  blank  verse,  after  the  style  of  "Hiawatha,"  requires 
special  care  in  so  placing  the  emphasis  and  inflections  as  to  avoid  a 
sing-song. 

I 

All  along  the  Brazos  River, 
All  along  the  Colorado, 
In  the  valleys  and  the  lowlands 
Where  the  trees  were  tall  and  stately. 
In  the  rich  and  rolling  meadows 
Where  the  grass  was  full  of  wildflowers. 
Came  a  humming  and  a  buzzing, 
Came  the  murmur  of  a  going 
To  and  fro  among  the  treetops, 
Far  and  wide  across  the  meadows. 
And  the  red  men  in  their  tepees 
Smoked  their  pipes  of  clay  and  listened. 
"What  is  this  ?"  they  asked  in  wonder ; 
"Who  can  give  the  sound  a  meaning? 
Who  can  understand  the  language 
Of  a  going  in  the  treetops?" 

2 

Then  the  wisest  of  the  Tejas 
Laid  his  pipe  aside  and  answered : 
"O,  my  brothers,  these  are  people. 
Very  little,  winged  people. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  149 

Countless,  busy,  banded  people, 
Coming  humming  through  the  timber  1 
These  are  tribes  of  bees  united 
By  a  single  aim  and  purpose, 
To  possess  the  Tejas'  country, 
Gather  harvest  from  the  prairies, 
Store  their  wealth  among  the  timber. 
These  are  hive  and  honeymakers, 
Sent  by  Manito  to  warn  us 
That  the  white  men  now  are  coming. 
With  their  women  and  their  children! 
Not  the  fiery  filibusters 
Passing  wildly  in  a  moment, 
Like  a  flame  across  the  prairies, 
Like  a  whirlwind  through  the  forest. 
Leaving  empty  lands  behind  them !  • 
Not  the  Mexicans  and  Spaniards, 
Indolent  and  proud  hidalgos. 
Dwelling  in  their  haciendas, 
Dreaming,  talking  of  to-morrow. 
While  their  cattle  graze  around  them, 
And  their  fickle  revolutions 
Change  the  rulers,  not  the  people! 
Other  folks  are  these  who  follow 
Where  the  wild  bees  come  to  warn  us; 
These  are  hive  and  honeymakers, 
These  are  busy,  banded  people, 
Roaming  far  to  swarm  and  settle, 
Working  every  day  for  harvest, 
Fighting  hard  for  peace  and  order, 
Worshiping  as  queens,  their  women, 


150  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Making  homes  and  building  cities, 
Full  of  riches  and  of  trouble. 
All  our  hunting  grounds  must  vanish, 
All  our  lodges  fall  before  them, 
All  our  happy  life  of  freedom, 
Fade  away  like  smoke  before  them. 
Come,  my  brothers,  strike  your  tepees, 
Call  your  women,  load  your  ponies ! 
Let  us  take  the  trail  to  westward, 
Where  the  plains  are  wide  and  open. 
Where  the  bison  herds  are  gathered 
Waiting  for  our  feathered  arrows. 
We  will  live  as  lived  our  fathers. 
Gleaners  of  the  gifts  of  nature. 
Hunters  of  the  unkept  cattle. 
Men  whose  women  run  to  serve  them. 
If  the  toiling  bees  pursue  us, 
If  the  white  men  seek  to  tame  us, 
We  will  fight  them  off  and  flee  them. 
Break  their  hives  and  take  their  honey, 
Moving  westward,  ever  westward. 
There  to  live  as  lived  our  fathers." 

3 

So  the  red  men  drove  their  ponies, 

With  the  tent  poles  trailing  after, 
Out  along  the  path  to  sunset, 
While  along  the  river  valleys 
Swarmed  the  wild  bees,  the  forerunners. 
And  the  white  men,  close  behind  them. 
Men  of  mark  from  old  Missouri, 
Men  of  daring  from  Kentucky, 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  151 

Tennessee,  Louisiana, 
Men  of  many  States  and  races, 
Bringing  wives  and  children  with  them, 
Followed  up  the  wooded  valleys, 
Spread  across"  the  rolling  prairies. 
Raising  homes  and  reaping  harvests. 
Rude  the  toil  that  tried  their  patience. 
Fierce  the  fights  that  proved  their  courage. 
Rough  the  stone  and  tough  the  timber 
Out  of  which  they  built  their  order! 
Yet  they  never  failed  nor  faltered. 
And  the  instinct  of  their  swarming 
Made  them  one  and  kept  them  working. 
Till  their  toil  was  crowned  with  triumph, 
And  the  country  of  the  Tejas 
Was  the  fertile  land  of  Texas. 


The  Eagle's  Song 
Richard  Mansfield 

The  sweep  of  the  thought  in  this  poem,  embracing  our  Revolu- 
tionary and  Civil  Wars,  can  hardly  be  followed  by  a  pupil  short 
of  the  upper  grades.  Note  that  each  of  the  last  three  stanzas  denotes 
a  marked  transition,  to  be  indicated  by  proper  pauses  in  each  case. 

I 

The  lioness  whelped,  and  the  sturdy  cub 

Was  seized  by  an  eagle  and  carried  up, 

And  homed  for  a  while  in  an  eagle's  nest. 

And  slept  for  a  while  on  an  eagle's  breast; 

And  the  eagle  taught  it  the  eagle's  song: 

"To  be  staunch,  and  valiant,  and  free,  and  strong !" 


152  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

2 

The  lion  whelp  sprang  from  the  eyrie  nest, 
From  the  lofty  crag  where  the  queen  birds  rest; 
He  fought  the  king  on  the  spreading  plain, 
And  drove  him  back  o'er  the  foaming  main. 
He  held  the  land  as  a  thrifty  chief. 
And  reared  his  cattle,  and  reaped  his  sheaf, 
Nor  sought  the  help  of  a  foreign  hand. 
Yet  welcomed  all  to  his  own  free  land! 

3 

Two  were  the  sons  that  the  country  bore 

To  the  Northern  lakes  and  the  Southern  shore; 

And  Chivalry  dwelt  with  the  Southern  son, 

And  Industry  lived  with  the  Northern  one. 

Tears  for  the  time  when  they  broke  and  fought! 

Tears  was  the  price  of  the  union  wrought  I 

And  the  land  was  red  in  a  sea  of  blood, 

Where  brother  for  brother  had  swelled  the  flood! 

4 

And  now  that  the  two  are  one  again. 

Behold  on  their  shield  the  word  "Refrain  1" 
And  the  lion  cubs  twain  sing  the  eagle's  song: 
"To  be  staunch,  and  valiant,  and  free,  and  strong !" 
For  the  eagle's  beak,  and  the  lion's  paw. 
And  the  lion's  fangs,  and  the  eagle's  claw. 
And  the  eagle's  swoop,  and  the  lion's  might. 
And  the  lion's  leap,  and  the  eagle's  sight. 
Shall  guard  the  flag  with  the  word  "Refrain!" 
Now  that  the  two  are  one  again! 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  153 

If 

Rudyard  Kipling 

The  thought  of  this  poem  is  on-looking  throughout  to  the  conclu- 
sion reached  in  the  last  two  lines  of  the  last  stanza.  Until  these 
two  lines  are  reached,  therefore,  the  rising  inflection  should  be 
maintained,   including  the  last  lines  of  all  stanzas  but  the  last. 

I 

If  you  can  keep  your  head  when  all  about  you 

Are  losing  theirs  and  blaming  it  on  you ; 
If  you  can  trust  yourself  when  all  men  doubt  you; 

But  make  allowance  for  their  doubting,  too; 
If  you  can  wait  and  not  be  tired  by  waiting, 

Or,  being  bed  about,  don't  deal  in  Hes;  . 
Or,  being  hated,  don't  give  way  to  hating. 

And  yet  don't  look  too  good  nor  talk  too  wise; 

2 
If    you    can    dream    and    not   make    dreams    your 
master ; 
If  you  can  think  and  not  make  thoughts  your 
aim; 
If  you  can  meet  with  Triumph  and  Disaster 

And  treat  impostors  just  the  same; 
If  you  can  bear  to  hear  the  truth  you've  spoken 
Twisted  by  knaves  to  make  a  trap  for  fools ; 
Or,  watch  the  things  you  gave  your  life  to  broken 
And   stoop   and  build   them   up   with   Worn-out 
tools ; 

3 

If  you  can  make  one  heap  of  all  your  winnings, 

And  risk  it  on  one  turn  of  pitch-and-toss. 


154  Winn'mg  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

And  lose,  and  start  again  at  your  beginnings 
And  never  breathe  a  word  about  your  loss; 

If  you  can  force  your  heart  and  nerve  and  sinew 
To  serve  your  turn  long  after  they  are  gone, 

And  so  hold  on  when  there  is  nothing  in  you 
Except  the  will  which  says  to  them,  "Hold  on"; 

4 
If  you  can  talk  with  crowds  and  keep  your  virtue; 

Or  walk  with  kings,  nor  lose  your  common  touch ; 
If  neither  foes  nor  loving  friends  can  hurt  you; 

If  all  men  count  with  you,  but  none  too  much; 
If  you  can  fill  the  unforgiving  minute 

With  sixty  seconds'  worth  of  distance  run, 
Yours  is  the  earth  and  everything  that's  in  it. 

And — which  is  more — you'll  be  a  Man,  my  son. 

Copyright,    1910,  by   Rudyard  Kipling. 

Crossing  the  Bar 

Alfred  Tennyson 

The  inspiration  of  this  poem  came  to  Tennyson  one  evening  while 
he  was  being  rowed  to  shore  in  a  harbor  on  the  coast  of  England. 
Being  contemplative,  the  rate  should  be  slow.  Note  that  the  thought 
is  incomplete  at  the  end  of  stanza  i,  hence  the  rising  inflection  is 
required.  The  same  remark  might  be  applied  to  the  close  of  stanza 
3.  A  note  of  faith  and  trust  runs  through  the  whole  poem,  the 
climax  being  reached  in  the  last  stanza,  which  has  frequently  been 
quoted. 

I 

Sunset  and  evening  star, 

And  one  clear  call   for  me! 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bar, 

When  I  put  out  to  sea, 


Winning  Dedaniations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them  155 

2 

But  such  a  tide  as  moving  seems  asleep, 

Too  full  for  sound  and  foam, 
When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  boundless  deep 

Turns  again  home. 

3 

Twilight  and  evening  bell, 

And  after  that  the  dark! 
And  may  there  be  no  sadness  of  farewell, 

When  I  embark; 


For   though    from   out   our   bourne   of   Time   and 
Place 

The  flood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 

When  I  have  crossed  the  bar. 


156  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Recessional 

Rudyard  Kipling 

The  occasion  of  this  poem  was  the  celebration  in  England  of  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  Queen  Victoria's  reign,  known  as  the  "Queen's 
Jubilee."  Representatives  from  all  parts  of  the  British  Empire 
assembled  at  London  in  1897  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion.  David 
Starr  Jordan  calls  this  poem  "the  noblest  hymn  of  the  century." 
As  a  general  rule — exceptions  being  found  in  stanzas  2  and  3 — the 
rising  inflection  should  be  maintained  in  each  stanza  until  the  prayer, 
or  direct  invocation,  is  reached  in  the  last  two  lines.  The  falling 
inflection  should  be  used  on  "yet"  (for  the  purpose  of  emphasis), 
also  on  "forget"  in  each  instance.  Try  the  effect  of  placing  very 
strong  emphasis  on  the  first  "forget,"  then  make  the  clause  that 
follows  an  echo  of  the  first,  with  less  pronounced  emphasis  on  any 
one  word.  Note  that  special  emphasis  is  required  on  "Thee,"  in 
stanzas  4  and  5.  The  "reeking  tube  and  iron  shard"  (line  2, 
stanza  5)  refer  to  cannon  and  battleships,  the  latter  being  much 
in  evidence  upon  the  occasion  which  inspired  this  poem. 

I 

God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old — 
Lord  of  our  far-flung  battle-line — 

Beneath  Whose  awful  Hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget! 

2 

The  tumult  and  the  shouting  dies — 
The  captains  and  the  kings  depart — 

Still  stands  Thine  ancient  Sacrifice, 
An  humble   and  a   contrite  heart. 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget! 


Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them  157 

3 
Far-called  our  navies  melt  away — 

On  dune  and  headland  sinks  the  fire — 
Lo,  all  our  pomp  of  yesterday 

Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre! 
Judge  of  the  Nations,  spare  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget ! 

4 
If,  drunk  with  sight  of  power,  we  loose 

Wild  tongues  that  have  not  Thee  in  awe — 
Such  boasting  as  the  Gentiles  use, 

Or  lesser  breeds  without  the  Law — 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget  1 

5 

For  heathen  heart  that  puts  her  trust 

In  reeking  tube  and  iron  shard 
All  valiant  dust  that  builds  on  dust. 

And  guarding  calls  not  Thee  to  guard — 
For  frantic  boast  and  foolish  word, 
Thy  mercy  on  Thy  People,  Lord! 


158  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Power  of  Music 

William  Shakespeare 

The  following  is  an  excerpt  from  the  love  scene  between  Lorenzo 
and  Jessica,  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice.  The  scene  must  be  recalled 
as  one  recites  the  lines:  the  lovers  talking  in  the  moonlight,  while 
from  a  nearby  house  is  heard  sweet  music.  Musical  tones  are  of 
course  required  to  echo  the  thought  and  sentiment.  The  rate  is 
generally  slow,  but  note  how  it  should  be  varied  in  stanza  2,  follow- 
ing a  marked  transition.  Note  also  what  a  fine  opportunity  for  ex- 
pressing a  climax  is  offered  in  the  three  lines  (stanza  3)  ending 
with  "spoils."  Begin  in  a  low  key,  then  rise  slightly  in  key  at  each 
succeeding  line,  with  a  corresponding  increase  in  force  until  the 
climax  is  reached. 

I 

How  sweet  the  moonlight  sleeps  upon  this  bank! 

Here  will  we  sit,  and  let  the  sounds  of  music 

Creep  in  our  ears;  soft  stillness,  and  the  night, 

Become  the  touches  of  sweet  harmony. 

Sit,  Jessica.     Look  how  the  floor  of  heaven 

Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold. 

There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold'st 

But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 

Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubim : 

Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls; 

But  whilst  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay 

Doth  grossly  close  it  in,  we  cannot  hear  it.  .  .  . 

2 

For  do  but  note  a  wild  and  wanton  herd, 
Or  race  of  youthful  and  unhandled  colts. 
Fetching    mad    bounds,    bellowing,    and    neighing 

loud, 
Which  is  the  hot  condition  of  their  blood; 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  159 

If  they  but  hear  perchance  a  trumpet  sound, 
Or  any  air  of  music  touch  their  ears, 
You  shall  perceive  them  make  a  mutual  stand, 
Their  savage  eyes  turned  to  a  modest  gaze, 
By  the  sweet  power  of  music. 

3 

Therefore,  the  poet, 

Did   feign   that   Orpheus   drew   trees,   stones,   and 

floods ; 
Since  nought  so  stockish,  hard,  and  full  of  rage. 
But  music  for  the  time  doth  change  his  nature; 
The  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself, 
Nor  is  not  moved  with  concord  of  sweet  sounds, 
Is  fit  for  treasons,  stratagems,  and  spoils ; 
The  motions  of  his  spirit  are  dull  as  night, 
And  his   affections  dark  as   Erebus. 
Let  no  such  man  be  trusted. 

Apple  Blossoms 

William  Wesley  Martin 

Have  you  seen  an  apple  orchard  in  the  spring?  Then  you  can 
appreciate  the  beauty  and  charm  of  this  rare  poem.  In  order  to 
avoid  a  sing-song  in  delivery,  vary  the  emphasis  and  inflection  as 
you  repeat  "in  the  spring,"  and  don't  pause  before  the  last  lines  of 
stanzas  i,  3,  and  5.  For  the  same  purpose,  as  well  as  to  bring  out 
the  thought,  study  carefully  for  the  proper  placing  of  emphasis. 
Thus  in  stanza  1,  emphasize  "apple  orchard"  and  "English";  in 
stanza  2,  "plucked";  in  stanza  3,  "walked";  in  stanza  4,  "bridal"  and 
"everywhere";  in  stanza  5,  "not"  and  "know."  If  these  words  be 
noted  for  primary  emphasis,  other  words  will  naturally  receive  due 
secondary  emphasis. 

I 

Have  you  seen  an  apple  orchard  in  the  spring? 
In  the  spring? 


i6o  Jl'innhig  D eclamations-H ow  to  Speak  Them 

An  English  apple  orchard  in  the  spring? 
When  the  spreading  trees  are  hoary 
With  their  wealth  of  promised  glory, 
And  the  mavis  pipes  his  story 
In  the  spring! 

2 

Have  you  plucked  the  apple  blossoms  in  the  spring? 

In  the  spring? 
And  caught  their  subtle  odors  in  the  spring? 
Pink  buds  bursting  at  the  light, 
Crumpled  petals  baby-white. 
Just  to  touch  them  a  delight! 
In  the  spring! 

3 
Have   you    walked    beneath    the   blossoms    in    the 

spring? 

In  the  spring? 

Beneath  the  apple  blossoms  in  the  spring? 

When  the  pink  cascades  were  falling, 

And  the  silver  brooklets  brawling. 

And  the  cuckoo  bird  is  calling 

In  the  spring! 

4 
Have  you  ever  seen  a  merry  bridal  in  the  spring? 

In  the  spring? 

In  an  English  apple  country  in  the  spring? 

When  the  bride  and  maidens  wear 

Apple  blossoms  in  their  hair; 

Apple  blossoms  everywhere, 

In  the  spring! 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  i6i 

5 
If  you  have  not  then  you  know  not,  in  the  spring, 

In  the  spring, 
Half  the  color,  beauty,  wonder  of  the  spring. 
No  sight  can  I  remember, 
Half  so  precious,  half  so  tender, 
As  the  apple  blossoms  render 
In  the  spring! 

Gradatim 

Josiah  Gilbert  Holland 

Clear,  ringing  tones  and  moderate  rate  are  best  suited  to  the 
delivery  of  this  poem.  Aim  so  to  place  the  emphasis  as  to  bring 
out  the  thought,  and  note  that  several  lines  in  this  poem  should  be 
passed  without  pausing. 

Heaven  is  not  reached  by  a  single  bound, 
But  we  build  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise 
From  the  lowly  earth  to  the  vaulted  skies, 

And  we  mount  to  its  summit,  round  by  round. 

I  count  this  thing  to  be  grandly  true, 
That  a  noble  deed  is  a  step  toward  God, 
Lifting  the  soul  from  the  common  clod 

To  a  purer  air  and  a  fairer  view. 

We  rise  by  the  things  that  are  under  our  feet, 
By  what  we  have  mastered  of  good  or  gain; 
By  the  pride  deposed,  or  the  passion  slain, 

And  the  vanquished  ills  that  we  hourly  meet. 

We  hope,  we  aspire,  we  resolve,  we  trust. 
When  the  morning  calls  to  life  and  light; 
But  our  hearts  grow  weary,  and  ere  the  night 

Our  lives  are  trailing  the  sordid  dust. 


i62  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

We  hope,  we  resolve,  we  aspire,  we  pray; 

And  we  think  that  we  mount  the  air  on  wings 
Beyond  the  recall  of  earthly  things, 

While  our  feet  still  cling  to  the  heavy  clay. 

Wings  are  for  angels,  but  feet  for  men! 

We  may  borrow  the  wings  to  find  the  way; 

We  may  hope,  and  resolve,  and  aspire,  and  pray, 
But  our  feet  must  rise  or  we  fall  again. 

Only  in  dreams  is  a  ladder  thrown 

From  the  weary  earth  to  the  sapphire  walls; 
But  the  dreams  depart  and  the  ladder  falls. 

And  the  sleeper  wakes  on  his  pillow  of  stone. 

Heaven  is  not  reached  at  a  single  bound, 
But  we  build  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise 
From  the  lowly  earth  to  the  vaulted  skies. 

And  we  mount  to  its  summit  round  by  round. 


The  Blue  and  the  Gray 

Francis  M.  Finch 

As  early  as  1867,  following  our  Civil  War,  the  women  of  Columbus, 
Miss.,  on  Decoration  Day  placed  flowers  impartially  upon  the  graves 
of  Confederate  and  Union  soldiers.  This  incident  inspired  the 
following  poem.  The  author  was  a  resident  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  and 
for  a  long  time  was  judge  in  the  highest  court  of  his  native  state. 
An  appreciation  of  the  meaning  of  this  poem,  and  of  the  beauty  of 
its  sentiment  and  its  expression,  will  result  in  sympathetic,  musical 
tones,  with  due  emphatic  pauses  and  moderate  rate. 

By  the  flow  of  the  inland  river. 
Whence  the  fleets  of  iron  have  fled, 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  163 

Where  the  blades  of  the  grave-grass  quiver. 
Asleep  are  the  ranks  of  the  dead — 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  one,  the  Blue; 
Under  the  other,  the  Gray. 

These,  in  the  robings  of  glory; 

Those,  in  the  gloom  of  defeat; 
All,  with  the  battle-blood  gory, 
In  the  dusk  of  eternity  meet — 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew. 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  laurel  the  Blue; 
Under  the  willow,  the  Gray. 

From  the  silence  of  sorrowful  hours, 

The  desolute  mourners  go. 
Lovingly  laden  with  flowers. 

Alike  for  the  friend  and  the  foe. — 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  roses,  the  Blue; 
Under  the  lilies,  the  Gray. 

So,  with  an  equal  splendor. 

The  morning  sun-rays  fall, 
With  a  touch  impartially  tender, 

On  the  blossoms  blooming  for  all. — 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Broidered  with  gold,  the  Blue; 
I^Iellowed  with  gold,  the  Gray. 


164  IVinning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

So,  when  the  summer  calleth, 
On  forest  and  field  of  grain 
With  an  equal  murmur  falleth 
The  cooling  drip  of  the  rain: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Wet  with  the   rain,   the  Blue, 
Wet  with  the  rain,  the  Gray. 

Sadly,  but  not  with  upbraiding, 
The  generous  deed  was  done; 
In  the  storm  of  the  years  that  are  fading 
No  braver  battle  was  won. — 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  blossoms,  the  Blue; 
Under  the  garlands,  the  Gray. 

No  more  shall  the  war  cry  sever, 

Or  the  winding  rivers  be  red ; 

They  banish  our  anger  forever. 

When  they  laurel  the  graves  of  our  dead: 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew, 

Waiting  the  judgment  day ; 
Love  and  tears,   for  the  Blue, 
Tears  and  love,  for  the  Gray. 


Winning  Declamations-Hozu  to  Speak  Them  165 

The  House  by  the  Side  of  the  Road 

Sam  Walter  Ross 

Aside  from  the  standard  requirement  of  thought-grasp  and  earnest- 
ness, these  two  suggestions  will  suffice  as  to  the  delivery  of  this 
oft-quoted  poem:  (i)  pass  the  lines  without  pausing  that  do  not  re- 
quire a  pause;  (2)  vary  the  emphasis  on  the  phrases  repeated  in  the 
last  two  lines  of  the  stanzas. 

I 

There  are  hermit  souls  that  Hve  withdrawn 

In  the  peace  of  their  self -content ; 
There  are  souls,  like  stars,  that  dwell  apart. 

In  a  fellowless  firmament ; 
There  are  pioneer  souls  that  blaze  their  paths 

Where  highways  never  ran ; 
But  let  me  live  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

2 

Let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road, 

Where  the  race  of  men  go  by. 
The  men  who  are  good  and  the  men  who  are  bad, 

As  good  and  as  bad  as  I. 
I  would  not  sit  in  the  scorner's  seat. 

Or  hurl  the  cynic's  ban ; 
Let  me  live  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

3 

I  see  from  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road. 

By  the  side  of  the  highway  of  life, 
The  men  who  press  with  the  ardor  of  hope, 
The  men  who  are  faint  with  the  strife. 


i66  Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them 

But  I  turn  not  away  from  their  smiles  nor  their 
tears, 

Both  parts  of  an  infinite  plan; 
Let  me  live  in  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 

4 
I  know  there  are  brook-gladdened  meadows  ahead 

And  mountains  of  wearisome  height; 
That  the  road  passes  on  through  the  long  afternoon 

And  stretches  away  to  the  night. 
But  still  I  rejoice  when  the  travelers  rejoice, 

And  weep  with  strangers  that  moan, 
Nor  live  in  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

Like  a  man  who  dwells  alone. 

5 
Let  me  live  in  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

Where  the  race  of  men  go  by; 
They  are  good,  they  are  bad,  they  are  weak,  they 
are  strong, 

Wise,  foolish — so  am  I. 
Then  why  should  I  sit  in  the  scorner's  seat, 

Or  hurl  the  cynic's  ban? 
Let  me  live  in  my  house  by  the  side  of  the  road 

And  be  a  friend  to  man. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  167 

The  Landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
Felicia  Hemans 

Full,  round,  ringing  tones,  with  a  generally  low  key  and  moderate 
rate  are  required  in  rendering  this  well-known  poem.  Note  also 
several  lines  which  require  no  pause  at  the  end. 

I 

The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 

On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast, 
And  the  woods,  against  a  stormy  sky, 

Their  giant  branches  tossed; 

2 

And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark 

The  liills  and  waters  o'er, 
When  a  band  of   exiles   moored  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New  England  shore. 

3 

Not  as  the  conqueror  comes. 

They,  the  true-hearted,  came: 
Not  with  the  roll  of  the  stirring  drums. 

And  the  trumpet  that  sings  of  fame; 

4 

Not  as  the  flying  come. 

In  silence  and  in  fear, — 
They  shook  the  depths  of  the  desert's  gloorri 

With  their  hymns  of  lofty  cheer. 

5 
Amidst  the  storm  they  sang, 

And  the  stars  heard,  and  the  sea ; 


i68  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
To  the  anthem  of  the  free ! 

6 

The  ocean-eagle  soared 

From  his  nest  by  the  white  wave's  foam, 
And  the  rocking  pines  of  the  forest  roared; 

This  was  their  welcome  home ! 

7 

There  were  men  with  hoary  hair 

Amidst  that  pilgrim-band ; 
Why  had  they  come  to  wither  there, 

Away  from  their  childhood's  land? 

8 
There  was  woman's  fearless  eye, 

Lit  by  her  deep  love's  truth; 
There  was  manhood's  brow,  serenely  high, 

And  the  fiery  heart  of  youth. 

9 

What  sought  they  thus  afar? 

Bright  jewels  of  the  mine? 
The  wealth  of  seas,  the  spoils  of  war? — 
They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine ! 

lO 

Aye,  call  it  holy  ground. 

The  soil  where  first  they  trod ! 
They  have  left  unstained  what  there  they  found — 

Freedom  to  worship  God! 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  169 

The  Palmetto  and  the  Pine 

Virginia  L.  French 

Generally  speaking,  the  words  of  this  poem  should  be  delivered  with 
the  impact  and  force  of  a  bullet  from  a  gun.  Dynamic,  ringing 
tones — with   the    "glottis    stroke" — are    required    throughout. 

I 

They  planted  them  together — our  gallant  sires  of 

old— 
Though  one  was  crowned  with  crystal  snow  and 

one  with  solar  gold. 
They    planted     them     together, — on     the     world's 

majestic  height ; 
At  Saratoga's  deathless  charge ;  at  Eutah's  stubborn 

fight; 
At  midnight  on  the  dark  redoubt,   'mid  plunging 

shot  and  shell ; 
At  noontide,  gasping  in  the  crush  of  battle's  bloody 

swell. 
With   gory   hands   and    reeking   brows,    amid   the 

mighty  fray 
Which   surged  and  swelled  around  them  on  that 

memorable  day 
When  they  planted  Independence  as  a  symbol  and 

a  sign. 
They  struck  deep  soil,  and  planted  the  palmetto  and 

the  pine. 

2 

They  planted  them  together, — by  the  river  of  the 

years, — 
Watered  with  our  fathers'  hearts'  blood,  watered 

with  our  mothers'  tears; 


I/O  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

In  the  strong,  rich  soil  of  freedom,  with  a  bounteous 

benison 
From  their  prophet,  priest  and  pioneer — our  father, 

Washington ! 
Above   them  floated   echoes  of   the   ruin   and  the 

wreck, 
Like  "drums  that  beat  at  Louisburg  and  thundered 

at  Quebec" ; 
But  the  old  lights  sank  in  darkness  as  the  new  stars 

rose  to  shine 
O'er  those  emblems  of  the  sections,  the  palmetto 

and  the  pine. 

3 

And  we'll  plant  them  still  together — for  'tis  yet  the 

self-same  soil 
Our  fathers'  valor  won  for  us  by  victory  and  toil; 
On    Florida's    fair   everglades,   by   bold    Ontario's 

flood, — 
And  through  them  send  electric  life,  as  leaps  the 

kindred  blood ! 
For  thus  it  is  they  taught  us  who  for  freedom  lived 

and  died, — 
The  Eternal's  law   of   justice  must  and  shall  be 

justified, 
That  God  has  joined  together,  by  a  fiat  all  divine, 
The  destinies  of  dwellers  'neath  the  palm-tree  and 

the  pine. 

4 
God  plant  them  still  together!    Let  them  flourish 

side  by  side. 

In  the   halls   of   our   Centennial,   mailed  in  more 

than  marble  pride ! 


Winning  Declamations-Hoiv  to  Speak  Them  171 

With  kindly  deeds   and  noble   names   we'll  grave 

them  o'er  and  o'er 
With  brave  historic  legends  of  the  glorious  days 

of  yore; 
While  the  clear,  exultant  chorus,  rising  from  united 

bands, 
The  echo  of  our  triumph  peals  to  earth's  remotest 

lands; 
While  "faith,   fraternity,   and  love"  shall  joyfully 

entwine 
Around  our  chosen  emblems,  the  palmetto  and  the 

pine. 

A  Toast 

Marion  Coiithony  Smith 

"All's  well  with  the  world"  is  the  theme  of  this  poem,  and  it  this 
sentiment  is  present  during  the  delivery,  you  will  have  an  animated 
facial  expression,  beaming  with  good  cheer,  and  the  thought  and 
sentiment  will  be  voiced  in  ringing,  joyous  tones. 

Here's  to  the  old  Earth,  and  here's  to  all  that's  in 

her, 
To  the  soil  of  her,  and  the  toil  of  her,  and  the 

valiant  souls  that  win  her; 
To  the  hope  she  holds,  and  the  gift  she  grants,  her 

hazards  and  her  prizes, 
To  the  face  of  her,  and  the  grace  of  her,  and  all  her 

swift  surprises. 

Here's  to  her  mighty  dawns,  with  rose  and  golden 

splendor ; 
To  the  heights  of  her,  and  the  nights  of  her,  her 

springs  and  their  surrender; 


172  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Her  storms  and  her  frozen  seas,  and  the  mystic 

stars  above  her, 
The  fear  of  her,  and  the  cheer  of  her,  and  all  the 

brave  that  love  her. 

Here's  to  her  valleys  warm,  with  their  little  homes 
to  cherish ; 

The  gleam  of  her,  and  the  dream  of  her,  and  the 
loves  that  flower  and  perish ; 

To  her  cities  rich  and  gray,  with  their  stern  life- 
chorus  ringing, 

The  noise  of  her,  and  the  joys  of  her,  and  the 
sighs  beneath  the  singing. 

Here's  to  her  endless  youth,  her  deaths  and  her 

reviving ; 
The  soul  of  her,  and  the  goal  of  her,  that  keeps 

her  ever  striving; 
Her    little    smiling    flowers,    and    her    comforting 

grass  and  clover. 
And  the  rest  of  her  on  the  breast  of  her  when 

striving  days  are  over. 

Here's  to   the  old   Earth,   with  all   her  countless 

chances ; 
The  heart  of  her,  and  the  art  of  her,  her  frowns 

and  tender  glances; 
With  all  her  dear  familiar  ways  that  held  us  from 

the  starting; 
Long  might  to  her !    And  good  night  to  her,  when 

the  hour  is  struck  for  parting. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  173 

Abou  Ben  Adhem 

Leigh  Hunt 

This  well-known  poem  increases  in  popularity  with  the  ever  steady 
advancement  of  tho  "Brotherhood  of  Man"  sentiment.  The  rate  of 
delivery  should  be  slow,  the  transitions  indicated  by  due  pauses  and 
changes  (particulacly  where  the  angel  appears  and  converses  with 
Ben  Adhem),  and  the  climax  at  the  close  should  be  brought  out  in 
full,  round  tones  and  strong  force. 

Abou  Ben  Adhem  (may  his  tribe  increase!) 
Awoke  one  night  from  a  deep  dream  of  peace, 
And  saw,  within  the  moonhght  of  his  room, 
Making  it  rich  and  Hke  a  Hly  in  bloom, 
An  angel  writing  in  a  book  of  gold. 
Exceeding  peace  had  made  Ben  Adhem  bold, 
And  to  the  presence  in  the  room  he  said, 
"What  writest  thou  ?"    The  vision  raised  its  head. 
And  with  a  look  made  all  of  sweet  accord 
Answer'd,  "The  names  of  those  who  love  the  Lord." 
"And  is  mine  one?"  said  Abou.     "Nay,  not  so," 
Replied  the  angel.     Abou  spoke  more  low. 
But  cheerily  still,  and  said,  "I  pray  thee,  then. 
Write  me  as  one  who  loves  his  fellow-men." 
The  angel  wrote  and  vanish'd.     The  next  night 
It  came  again  with  a  great  wakening  light 
And   show'd   the  names   whom  love   of   God   had 

bless'd, 
And  lo!  Ben  Adhem's  name  led  all  the  rest. 


174  Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them 

On  the  Death  of  David  Crockett 

T.  F.  Smith 

Review  the  history  of  David  Crockett's  career,  especially  the  part 
he  played  in  the  defense  of  the  Alamo,  and  you  can  then  the  better 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  this  poem.  Although  there  is  a  transition 
beginning  at  stanza  3,  requiring  a  pause  and  change,  the  whole 
poem  requires  elevated,  intense  feeling  and  strong  force. 

I 

Heard  ye  that  sigh,  that  melancholy  wail 
Borne  sadly  on  by  evening's  fitful  gale, 
Like  some  lone  whisper  from  the  silent  tomb, 
Shrouding  a  nation  with  its  saddening  gloom? 
It  comes  from  Texas,  like  a  dying  knell, 
Where  gloriously  the  immortal  Crockett  fell. 

2 

Like  some  tall  giant  on  the  field  of  blood, 
Undaunted  'midst  the  gallant  slain  he  stood, 
He  knew  no  fear — in  danger's  darkful  storm 
He  boldly,  proudly,  reared  his  warrior  form. 
His  cause — the  cause  of  freedom  and  the  free. 
His  glorious  watchword — Death  or  Liberty. 

3 

Sleep,  mighty  warrior,  in  thy  tombless  bed, 
The  bravest  hero  of  the  vaHant  dead! 
Thy  name  is  cherished  in  a  nation's  pride, 
Whose  tears  for  their  sad  fate  can  ne'er  be  dried 
Some  sculptured  marble  yet  shall  rise  and  tell 
How  Crockett  with  his  brave  companions  fell. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  175 

4 

Freedom  shall  light  her  torch  above  thy  tomb, 
And  freemen  write  the  story  of  thy  doom, 
Tyrants  shall  tremble  at  thy  honored  name. 
And  blush  to  read  the  record  of  thy  fame ; 
While  millions  at  their  annual  jubilee, 
Shall  boast  a  Crockett  lost — a  nation  free! 

The  Thinker 

Berton  Braley 

This  is  relatively  more  an  appeal  to  the  intellect  than  to  the 
emotions,  and  the  proper  placing  of  emphasis  is  most  essential  to 
an  c'flfective  rendition.  Accompanied  by  moderate  rate  and  due 
pausing,  stress  particularly  the  words  that  bear  the  burden  of  the 
thought, — such  as  "Thought,"  "Thinker,"  "Knows,"  "Mind," 
"Brain,"    "Schemer,"    "Dreamer." 

I 

Back  of  the  beating  hammer 

By  which  the  steel  is  wrought, 
Back  of  the  workshop's  clamor 

The  seeker  may  find  the  Thought, 
The  Thought  that  is  ever  master 

Of  iron  and  steam  and  steel, 
That  rises  above  disaster 

And  tramples  it  under  heel! 

2 

The  drudge  may  fret  and  tinker 

Or  labor  with  lus!y  blows, 
But  back  of  him  stands  the  Thinker, 

The  clear-eyed  man  who  Knows; 
For  into  each  plow  or  saber, 

Each  piece  and  part  and  whole, 


1/6  JVinnmg  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them 

Must  go  the  Brains  of  Labor, 
Which  gives  the  work  a  soul ! 

3 

Back  of  the  motors  humming, 

Back  of  the  beUs  that  sing, 
Back  of  the  hammers  drumming, 

Back  of  the  cranes  that  swing. 
There  is  the  eye  which  scans  them 

Watching  through  stress  and  strain, 
There   is  the   Mind   which  plans  them — - 

Back  of  the  brawn,  the  Brain! 

4 
Might  of  the  roaring  boiler, 

Force  of  the  engine's  thrust. 
Strength  of  the  sweating  toiler, 

Greatly  in  these  we  trust. 
But  back  of  them  stands  the  Schemer, 

The  Thinker  who  drives  things  through ; 
Back  of  the  Job — the  Dreamer 

Who's  making  the  dream  come  true! 

A  Day  in  June 

James  Russell  Lowell 

The  "effusive"  tone,  resulting  from  a  sustained  enthusiasm,  is  best 
suited  to  the  rendition  of  this  poem,  which  has  long  been  a  favorite 
for  recitation.  Transitions  of  wide  intervals,  accompanied  by  a 
change  in  the  meter,  occur  at  the  beginning  of  each  stanza.  These 
should  be  denoted  in  each  instance  by  a  long  pause  and  some  change 
in  the  style  of  delivery. 

I 

What  is  so  rare  as  a  day  in  June? 
Then  if  ever  come  perfect  days; 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  177 

Then  heaven  tries  the  earth  if  it  be  in  tune, 

And  over  it  softly  her  warm  ear  lays; 
Whether  we  look  or  whether  we  listen, 
We  hear  life  murmur  or  see  it  glisten; 
Every  clod  feels  a  stir  of  might, 

An  instinct  within  it  that  reaches  and  towers 
And,  grasping  blindly  above  it  for  light. 

Climbs  to  a  soul  in  grass  and  in  flowers; 
The  fiush  of  life  may  well  be  seen 

Thrilling  back  over  hills  and  valleys; 
The  cowslip  startles  in  meadows  green, 

The  buttercup  catches  the  sun  in  its  chalice. 
And  there's  never  a  leaf  or  a  blade  too  mean 

To  be  some  happy  creature's  palace ; 
The  little  bird  sits  at  his  door  in  the  sun, 

Atilt  like  a  blossom  among  the  leaves, 
And  lets  his  illumined  being  o'errun 
With  the  deluge  of  summer  it  receives ; 
His  mate  feels  the  eggs  beneath  her  wings. 
And  the  heart  in  her  dumb  breast  flutters  and  sings ; 
He  sings  to  the  wide  world,  and  she  to  her  nest, — 
In  the  nice  ear  of  Nature,  which  song  is  the  best? 

2 

Now  is  the  high-tide  of  the  year. 

And  whatever  of  life  hath  ebbed  away 
Comes  flooding  back,  with  a  ripply  cheer. 

Into  every  bare  inlet  and  creek  and  bay ; 
Now  the  heart  is  so  full  that  a  drop  overfills  it. 
We  are  happy  now  because  God  so  wills  it ; 
No  matter  how  barren  the  past  may  have  been, 
'Tis  enough  for  us  now  that  the  leaves  are  green; 


178  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

We  sit  in  the  warm  shade  and  feel  right  well 

How  the  sap  creeps  up  and  the  blossoms  swell ; 

We  may  shut  our  eyes,  but  we  cannot  help  knowing 

That  skies  are  clear  and  grass  is  growing; 

The  breeze  comes  whispering  in  our  ear, 

That  dandelions  are  blossoming  near. 

That  maize  has  sprouted,  that  streams  are  flowing. 

That  the  river  is  bluer  than  the  sky. 

That  the  robin  is  plastering  his  house  hard  by, 

And  if  the  breeze  kept  the  good  news  back, 

For  other  couriers  we  should  not  lack; 

We  could  guess  it  all  by  yon  heifer's  lowing, — 

And  hark !  how  clear  bold  chanticleer. 

Warmed  with  the  new  wine  of  the  year, 

Tells  all  in  his  lusty  crowing! 

3 

Joy  comes,  grief  goes,  we  know  not  how ; 

Everything  is  happy  now. 
Everything  is  upward  striving; 

'Tis  as  easy  now  for  the  heart  to  be  true, 

As  for  grass  to  be  green  or  skies  to  be  blue, — 
'Tis  the  natural  way  of  living; 
Who  knows  whither  the  clouds  have  fled? 

In  the  unscarred  heavens  they  leave  no  wake. 
And  the  eyes  forget  the  tears  they  have  shed. 

The  heart  forgets  its  sorrow  and  ache ; 
The  soul  partakes  of  the  season's  youth. 

And  the  sulphurous  rifts  of  passion  and  woe 
Lie  deep  'neath  a  silence  pure  and  smooth. 

Like  burnt-out  craters  healed  with  snow. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  179 

Right's  Security 

Paul  Laurence  Dunbar 

Earnestness,  strength,  and  directness  should  distinguish  the  ren- 
dition of  this  poem.  Note  the  climactic  construction  of  the  whole: 
the  last  stanza  is  the  strongest  of  all,  and  the  last  line  the  strongest 
one  in  that  stanza. 

I 

What  if  the  wind  do  howl  without, 
And  turn  the  creaking  weather-vane; 
What  if  the  arrows  of  the  rain 
Do  beat  against  the  window-pane? 
Art  thou  not  armored  strong  and  fast 
Against  the  saUies  of  the  blast? 
Art  thou  not  sheltered  safe  and  well 
Against  the  flood's  insistent  swell  ? 

2 

What  boots  it,  that  thou  stand'st  alone, 
And  laughest  in  the  battle's  face 
When  all  the  weak  have  fled  the  place 
And  let  their  feet  and  fears  keep  pace? 
Thou  wavest  still  thine  ensign  high, 
And  shoutest  thy  loud  battle-cry; 
Higher  than  e'er  the  tempest  roared. 
It  cleaves  the  silence  like  a  sword. 

3 

Right  arms  and  armors,  too,  that  man 

Who  will  not  compromise  with  wrong; 
Though  single,  he  must  front  the  throng 
And  wage  the  battle  hard  and  long. 


i8o  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Minorities,  since  time  began, 

Have  shown  the  better  side  of  man; 

And  often  in  the  lists  of  time 

One  man  has  made  a  cause  sublime! 

Coluoibua 

Joaquin  Miller 

This  is  properly  considered  one  of  the  great  distinctively  American 
poems.  Note  the  determination  and  faith  of  the  "Brave  Adm'r'l"  as 
shown  in  "Sail  on  I"  etc.,  and  emphasize  it  by  contrasting  it  with  the 
fear  and  doubt  in  the  words  of  the  "stout  mate."  Use  clear,  ringing 
tores  on  "Sail  on!"  Note  especially  the  climax  in  the  last  stanza, 
which  should  be  given  with  larg«  volume  and  strong  foroe. 

I 

Behind  him  lay  the  gray  Azores, 

Behind  the  Gates  of  Hercules; 
Before  him  not  the  ghost  of  shores, 

Before  him  only  shoreless  seas. 
The  good  mate  said:     "Now  must  we  pray. 

For  lo !  the  very  stars  are  gone. 
Brave  Adm'r'l,  speak;  what  shall  I  say?" 

"Why,  say :     'Sail  on !  gail  on !  sail  on !'  " 

2 

"My  men  grow  mutinous  day  by  day; 

My  men  grow  ghastly  wan  and  weak." 
The  stout  mate  thought  of  home;  a  spray 

Of  salt  wave  washed  his  swarthy  cheek. 
"What  shall  I  say,  brave  Adm'r'l,  say, 

If  we  sight  naught  but  seas  at  dawn?" 
"Why,  you  shall  say  at  break  of  day: 

'Sail  on !  sail  on !  sail  on !  and  on  1'  " 


Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them  i8i 

3 

They  sailed  and  sailed,  as  winds  might  blow, 

Until  at  last  the  blanched  mate  said: 
"Why,  now  not  even  God  would  know 

Should  I  and  all  my  men  fall  dead. 
These  very  winds  forget  their  way, 

For  God  from  these  dread  seas  is  gone. 
Now  speak,  brave  Adm'r'l,  and  say — " 

He  said:    "Sail  on!  and  on!" 

4 
They  sailed.     They  sailed.    Then  spake  the  mate: 

"This  mad  sea  shows  his  teeth  to-night 
He  curls  his  lip,  he  lies  in  wait 

With  lifted  teeth,  as  if  to  bite! 
Brave  Adm'r'l,  say  but  one  good  word : 

W^hat  shall  we  do  when  hope  is  gone?" 
The  words  leapt  like  a  leaping  sword : 

"Sail  on  1  sail  on !  sail  on !  and  on !" 

5 
Then,  pale  and  worn,  he  kept  his  deck, 

And  peered  through  darkness.     Ah,  that  night 
Of  all  dark  nights!    And  then  a  speck — - 

A  light !  a  light !  a  light !  a  light ! 
It  grew,  a  starlit  flag  unfurled ! 

It  grew  to  be  Time's  burst  of  dawn. 
He  gained  a  world ;  he  gave  that  world 

Its  grandeet  lesson :     "On !  sail  on !" 


l82  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Day  is  Done 
Henry  W.  Longfelloiv 

The  mood  of  this  poem  must  first  be  appreciated  before  adequate 
oral  interpretation  will  be  possible.  Note  that  the  first  three 
Btanzas  are  description  tinged  with  "a  feeling  of  sadness  and  long- 
ing." Stanzas  4  to  8,  inclusive,  call  for  a  poem  to  be  read,  with  a 
description  of  the  kind  desired.  And  the  last  three  stanzas  give 
the  effect  of  such  a  poem.  At  the  places  noted,  slight  transitions 
occur,  but  there  are  no  marked  changes  or  climaxes.  The  tone  is 
quiet  and  pensive  throughout,  and  the  rendition  most  needs  a  sym- 
pathetic quality  of  voice,  the  tones  colored  by  the  appropriate 
emotion,  so  that  you  "lend  to  the  rhyme  of  the  poem  the  beauty  of 
thy  voice." 

I 

The  day  is  done,  and  the  darkness 

Falls  from  the  wings  of  Night, 
As  a  feather  is  wafted  downward 

From  an  eagle  in  his  flight. 

2 

I  see  the  lights  of  the  village 

Gleam  through  the  rain  and  the  mist. 

And  a  feeling  of  sadness  comes  o'er  me, 
That  my  soul  cannot  resist: 

3 

A  feeling  of  sadness  and  longing, 

That  is  not  akin  to  pain. 
And  resembles  sorrow  only 
As  the  mist  resembles  the  rain. 

4 

Come,  read  to  me  some  poem. 
Some  simple  and  heartfelt  lay. 


Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them  183 

That  shall  soothe  this  restless  feeling, 
And  banish  the  thoughts  of  day. 

5 
Not  from  the  grand  old  masters. 

Not  from  the  bards  sublime, 
Whose  distant  footsteps  echo 

Through  the  corridors  of  Time, 

6 

For,  like  strains  of  martial  music, 

Their  mighty  thoughts  suggest 
Life's  endless  toil  and  endeavor, — 

And  to-tiight  I  long  for  rest. 

7 

Read  from  some  humbler  poet, 

Whose  songs  gushed   from  his  heart. 

As  showers  from  the  clouds  of  summer, 
Or  tears  from  the  eyelids  start. 

8 

Who  through  long  days  of  labor, 

And  nights  devoid  of  ease. 
Still  heard  in  his  soul  the  music 

Of  wonderful  melodies. 


9 


9 

Such  songs  have  power  to  quiet 
The  restless  pulse  of  care, 

And  come  like  the  benediction 
That  follows  after  prayer. 


iS4  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

lO 

Then  read  from  the  treasured  volume 

The  poem  of  thy  choice, 
And  lend  to  the  rhyme  of  the  poet 

The  beauty  of  thy  voice. 

II 

And  the  night  shall  be  filled  with  music. 
And  the  cares  that  infest  the  day 

Shall  fold  their  tents,  like  the  Arabs, 
And  as  silently  steal  away. 


The  Cross  of  Honor 

Virginia  Fisher  Harris 

The  "Cross  of  Honor"  is  a  small  bronze  medal  worn  by  ex-Con- 
federate soldiers,  and  corresponding  to  the  round  bronze  button 
worn  by  ex-Union  soldiers.  This  poem  is  a  eulogy  of  Confederate 
veterans  and  their  deeds.  The  prevailing  emotion  is  mingled  praise 
and  pathos,  which  should  be  sustained  throughout,  with  a  sHght 
change  at  the  opening  of  each  paragraph.  Note  that  several  lines 
in  this  poem  should  be  passed  without  pausing. 

I 

No  crown  of  laurel,  wreath  of  bay, 
On  conquering  brow  to  proudly  lay, 
Had  vanquished  South  her  sons  to  give. 
Their  diadems  are  deeds  that  live. 
Time  soothed  the  grief  but  not  the  pride 
For  those  who  had  so  nobly  died. 
Loving  remembrance  of  gain  and  loss 
Are  crusted  deep  in  "Honor's  Cross, 
Though  only  a  bit  of  bronze. 


Winning  Declamations-Haw  to  Speak  Them  185 

2 

Now  daisies  dot  the  emerald  plains 
That  once  were  red  with  bloody  stains, 
Crumbled  to  dust  the  flags  that  waved 
O'er  fearless  hearts  that  danger  braved. 
Q)rroding  rust  the  keen  blade  dims, 
Silent  the  stirring  battle  hymns. 
In   trenched   graves   or   grass-grown   mounds. 
Or  yet  in  life  with  scars  and  wounds, 
This  gray-garbed  mighty  Southern  host 
That  dauntless  stood  at  Honor's  post 
Holds  living  shrines  in  Southern  kearts. 
And  name  and  fame  that  ruthless  darts 
Can  tarnish  never. 

3 

Cross  of  Honor,  by  Valor  won — 

By  deeds  heroic  nobly  done, — 
On  veterans'  breasts  proudly  lay. 
Mute  story  of  forgetless  day. 
Bit  of  bronze, — no  jeweled  light 
Flashes  from  its  surface  bright, 
But  oh,  the  story  that  it  tells, 
And  how  the  heart  exultant  swells. 
Thy  gems  are  those  of  deathless  fame. 
That  burn  and  glow  with  steady  flame. 
Honor,  Courage,  Chivalric  Truth, 
A  stainless  name  above  reproof. 
These  are  thy  gems,  O  Southern  son, 
'By  steadfast  courage  bravely  won. 
Proudly  wear  it,  stainless  bear  it. 
This  Cross  of  Honor. 


i86  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

V 

Annabel  Lee 
Edgar  Allan  Poe 

Ringing,  musical  tones,  in  many  instances  interblending,  are  best 
for  rendering  this  selection.  The  ideas  to  be  emphasized  often  come 
in  pairs;  for  instance,  "to  love  and  be  loved";  "/  was  a  child  and 
she  was  a  child,"  "chilling  and  killing,"  "older — wiser,"  "in  heaven 
above  nor  the  demons  down  under."  Be  sure  to  note  the  slight 
difference  in  most  of  the  repetitions. 

It  was  many  and  many  a  year  ago, 

In  a  kingdom  by  the  sea, 
That  a  maiden  there  lived  whom  you  may  know 

By  the  name  of  Annabel  Lee; 
And  this  maiden  she  hved  with  no  other  thought 

Than  to  love  and  be  loved  by  me. 

I  was  a  child  and  she  was  a  child, 

In  this  kingdom  by  the  sea: 
But  we  loved  with  a  love  that  was  more  than  love — 

I  and  my  Annabel  Lee  ; 
With  a  love  that  the  winged  seraphs  of  heaven 

Coveted  her  and  me. 

And  this  was  the  reason  that,  long  ago, 

In  this  kingdom  by  the  sea, 
A  wind  blew  out  of  a  cloud,  chilling 

My  beautiful  Annabel  Lee; 
So  that  her  highborn  kinsman  came 

And  bore  her  away  from  me, 
To  shut  her  up  in  a  sepulcher 

In  this  kingdom  by  the  sea. 


Winning  Declamations-Hoiv  to  Speak  Them  187 

The  angels,  not  half  so  happy  in  heaven, 

Went  envying  her  and  me ; 
Yes, — that  was  the  reason  (as  all  men  know, 

In  this  kingdom  by  the  sea) 
That  the  wind  came  out  of  the  cloud  by  night. 

Chilling  and  killing  my  Annabel  Lee. 

But  our  love  it  was  stronger  by  far  than  the  love 

Of  those  who  were  older  than  we, — 

Of  many  far  wiser  than  we ; — 
And  neither  the  angels  in  heaven  above 

Nor  the  demons  down  under  the  sea 
Can  ever  dissever  my  soul  from  the  soul 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee; 

For  the  moon  never  beams  without  bringing  me 
dreams 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee; 
And  the  stars  never  rise  but  I  feel  the  bright  eyes 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee; 
And  so,  all  the  night-tide,  I  lie  down  by  the  side 
Of  my  darhng,  my  darling,  my  life  and  my  bride, 
In  her  sepulcher  there  by  the  sea. 
In  her  tomb  by  the  sounding  sea. 


i88  Winning  Declamations— How  to  Speak  Them 

Thou,  Too,  Sail  On! 

Henry  IV.  Longfellow 

Well-rounded,  orotund  tones,  especially  for  the  third  stanza, 
should  be  used  in  rendering  this  selection.  Remember  it  is  the  Ship 
of  State  about  which  you  are  speaking.  Develop  the  climax  in  stanza 
3  with  combined  volume  and  force,  and  notioe  especially  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  words  in  the  last  four  lines;  the  last  "are  all  with  thee" 
is  anticlimactjc, — an  echo  of  the  preceding. 

I 

Sail  forth  into  the  sea,  O  ship ! 

Through  wind  and  wave,  right  onward  steer! 

The  moistened  eye,  the  trembling  lip, 

Are  not  the  signs  of  doubt  or  fear. 

2 
Sail  forth  Into  the  sea  of  life, 
O  gentle,  loving,  trusting  wife, 
And  safe  from  all  adversity 
Upon  the  bosom  of  that  sea 
Thy  comings  and  thy  goings  be ! 
For  gentleness  and  love  and  trust 
Prevail  o'er  angry  wave  and  gust; 
And  in  the  wreck  of  noble  lives 
Something  immortal  still  suvives ! 

3 
Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O  Ship  of  State  I 

Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great ! 

Humanity  with  all  its  fears. 

With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 

Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate  I 

We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 

What  Workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  189 

Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 

What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 

In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 

Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope ! 

Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 

'Tis  of  the  wave  and  not  the  rock ; 

'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 

And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale  ! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar, 

In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 

Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea ! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee. 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears. 

Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears. 

Are  all  with  thee, — are  all  with  thee ! 

The  Defense  of  the  Alamo 

Joaquin  Miller 

In  order  to  give  this  poem  with  keener  appreciation,  review  this  in- 
cident in  Texas  history  by  supplementary  reading.  Strong,  ringing 
tones  are  required  throughout,  and  in  many  places  the  words  should 
be  uttered  in  the  quick,  dynamic,  staccato  style  known  as  "explosive" 
tones. 

I 

Santa  Anna  came   storming,   as   a  storm  might 
come; 
There  was  rumble  of  cannon;  there  was  rattle 
of  blade ; 
There  was  cavalry,  infantry,  bugle,  and  drum, — 

Full  seven  thousand,  in  pomp  and  parade, 
The  chivalry,  flower  of  Mexico; 
And  a  gaunt  two  hundred  in  the  Alamo ! 


190  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

2 

And  thirty  lay  sick,  and  some  were  shot  through; 
For  the  siege  had  been  bitter,  and  bloody,  and 
long. 
"Surrender,  or  die!" — "Men,  what  will  you  do?" 
And   Travis,   great   Travis,   drew    sword,   quick 
and  strong; 
Drew   a  line   at  his   feet   .   .   .   "Will  you  come? 

Will  you  go? 
I  die  with  my  wounded,  in  the  Alamo." 

3 

Then  Bowie  gasped,  "Lead  me  over  that  line!" 
Then  Crockett,  one  hand  to  the  sick,  one  hand  to 
his  gun. 
Crossed  with  him;  then  never  a  word  or  a  sign 

Till  all,  sick  or  well,  all,  all  save  but  one. 
One  man.     Then  a  woman  stepped,  praying,  and 

slow 
Across;  to  die  at  her  post  in  the  Alamo. 

4 
Then  that  one  coward  fled,  in  the  night,  in  that 

night 
When  all  men  silently  prayed  and  thought 
Of  home;  of  to-morrow;  of  God  and  the  right, 
Till  dawn :  and  with  dawn  came  Travis's  cannon 
shot, 
In  answer  to  insolent  Mexico, 
From  the  old  bell-tower  of  the  Alamo. 


Winning  Declamations-Hozv  to  Speak  Them  191 

5 

Then  came  Santa  Anna ;  a  crescent  of  flame ! 

Then  the  red  "escalade" ;  then  the  fight  hand  to 
hand; 
Such  an  unequal  fight  as  never  had  name 

Since  the  Persian  hordes  butchered  that  doomed 
Spartan  band. 
All  day, — all  day  and  all  night,  and  the  morning? 

so  slow 
Through  the  battle  smoke  mantling  the  Alamo. 

6 

Now  silence !     Such  silence !     Two  thousand  lay 
dead 

In  a  crescent  outside !    And  within  ?    Not  a  breath 
Save  the  gasp  of  a  woman,  with  gory  gashed  head, 

All  alone,  all  alone  there,  waiting  for  death ; 
And  she  but  a  nurse.     Yet  when  shall  we  know 
Another  like  this  of  the  Alamo? 

7    ■ 

Shout  "Victory,  victory,  victory  ho!" 

I  say  'tis  not  always  to  the  hosts  that  win; 
I  say  that  the  victory,  high  or  low, 

Is  given  the  hero  who  grapples  with  sin, 
Or  legion  or  single ;  just  asking  to  know 
When  duty  fronts  death  in  his  Alamo. 


192  JJ'i)iiii]i(j  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 


Solitude 

Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox 

The  emphasis  by  contrasts  should  be  noted  and  expressed  in  ren- 
dering this  poem,  which  has  long  been  a  favorite  for  recitation. 
Note  that  the  fifth  and  seventh  lines  of  stanza  3  should  be  passed 
without  pausing. 

I 

Laugh,  and  the  world  laughs  with  you ; 

Weep,  and  you  weep  alone, 
For  the  sad  old  earth  must  borrow  its  mirth, 

But  has  trouble  enough  of  its  own. 

Sing,  and  the  hills  will  answer  ; 

Sigh,  it  is  lost  on  the  air. 
The  echoes  bound  to  a  joyful  sound, 

But  shrink  from  voicing  care. 

2 

Rejoice,  and  men  will  seek  you ; 

Grieve,  and  they  turn  and  go. 
They  want  full  measure  of  all  your  pleasure, 

But  they  do  not  need  your  woe. 
Be  glad,  and  your  friends  are  many; 

Be  sad,  and  you  lose  them  all. 
There  are  none  to  decline  your  nectared  wine, 

But  alone  you  must  drink  life's  gall. 

3 

Feast,  and  your  halls  are  crowded; 

Fast,  and  the  world  goes  by 
Succeed  and  give,  and  it  helps  you  live, 
But  no  man  can  help  you  die. 


Winning  D eclamations-Hoiv  to  Speak  Them  193 

There  is  room  in  the  halls  of  pleasure 

For  a  long  and  lordly  train, 
But  one  by  one  we  must  all  file  on 

Through  the  narrow  aisles  of  pain. 


Nightfall 

Emma  Gertrude  White 

Loud,  rasping  tones  would  of  course  be  unfitted  to  voice  the 
sensuous  beauty  of  this  poem.  Note  that  many  of  the  lines  require 
no  pause  at  the  end.  "Katy"  (first  line  of  stanza  3)  refers,  of 
course,   to  the  katydid  mentioned   in  the   first  line   of   stanza    i. 

I 

In  the  maple,  chants  the  katydid 

A  measure  shrill  and  thin. 
In  the  dusty  grass,  a  cricket  scrapes 

His  cheerful  violin. 
Across  the  street,  my  neighbor 

To  her  baby,  softly  sings. 
And  the  sound  is  wafted  to  me 

Where  my  sea-grass  hammock  swings. 

2 

And  the  sky,  a  gray  blue  curtain, 

Stretches  coldly  overhead ; 
From  the  hill,  a  distant  street-lamp 

Sends  a  gleam  of  dusky  red. 
While  the  stars  shine  forth  but  dimly 

(Still  the  gentle  mother  sings)  ; 
And  their  radiance  soft  is  falling 

Where  my  sea-gras?  hammock  swings. 


194  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

3 

More  insistent  waxes  Katy, 

High  above  the  cricket's  trill ; 
Brighter  grow  the  stars  far  shining 

And  the  sky  grows  bluer  still. 
"Hush  my  dear,  lie  still  and  slumber," 

Softer  still  the  mother  sings ; 
Night  has  fallen  and  enfolds  me, 

Where  my  sea-grass  hammock  swings. 


PART  II 

PROSE  SELECTIONS 

For   High    Schools    and    Colleges 


The  Destiny  of  Democracy 

John  W.  Westcott 

This  selection  and  the  one  following  are  given  as  types  of  nominat- 
ing speeches  at  Democratic  and  Republican  national  conventions. 
The  extract  belew  is  taken  from  the  speech  by  Judge  Westcott,  of 
New  Jersey,  in  nominating  President  Wilson  for  a  second  term, 
at  the  National  Democratic  Convention,  St.  Louis,  1916.  The  speech 
is  highly  figurative  and  oratorical  in  construction,  appealing  to  a 
wide  range  of  emotions.  Ringing  tones  and  strong  force  are  required 
for  effective  delivery. 

The  commanding  fact  of  the  modern  age  is  the 
spread  of  intelligence.  The  schoolhouse  has  con- 
quered ignorance.  The  printing  press  has  trans- 
formed the  purposes  and  capacities  of  man.  Educa- 
tion has  qualified  him  for  a  better  existence.  The. 
Bible  has  made  him  a  moralist.  Men  know  that 
the  world  is  big  enough  to  support  the  human  family 
in  peace  and  comfort.  Men  know  that  the  great 
problem  of  peace  and  comfort  is  not  yet  solved. 
They  know  that  it  cannot  be  solved  by  the  savagery 
of  war.  They  know  that  its  solution  is  obtainable 
only  in  conditions  of  peace,  reason,  and  a  practical 
morality.  The  state  of  knowledge  is  the  crowning 
achievement  of  progress. 

The  American  experiment  of  self-government  has 
stood  the  test.  The  achievements  of  the  American 
system  are  known  of  all  men  and  felt  throughout 
the  world.  The  United  States  is  the  world's  asylum. 
Here  all  races,  all  conditions,  all  creeds  are  assimi- 
lated, helped,  elevated,  and  men  are  made  into  self- 

197 


198  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

governing  men.  In  America  justice  has  made  its 
greatest  progress,  because  it  is  progress  in  which 
all  men  have  a  part.  That  form  of  government 
which  afifords  the  fullest  opportunity  for  happiness 
and  comfort  is  destined  to  be  the  universal  form. 
Such  is  the  resistless  syllogism  of  progress.  War 
cannot  stop  its  inevitable  march.  The  opinion  of 
all  men  is  more  potential  than  the  opinion  of  one 
man.  The  best  opinion  of  the  best  men,  by  the 
force  of  example  and  mutuality  of  interest,  becomes 
the  opinion  of  all  men.  American  opinion  is  em- 
bodied in  a  man  of  peace.  American  opinion  is 
marching  through  the  world. 

Sons  of  America,  keep  unsullied  the  sacred  shrine 
of  peace,  through  whose  portals  will  yet  pass  arm 
in  arm  the  crowned  head  and  the  humble  peasant 
in  silent  worship  of  God. 

Out  of  the  ruins  and  sufferings  of  the  present 
conflict  will  arise  a  temple  of  justice  whose  dome 
will  be  the  blue  vault  of  heaven;  its  illuminants  the 
eternal  stars;  its  pillars  the  everlasting  hills;  its 
ornaments  the  woods  and  bountiful  fields ;  its  music 
the  rippling  rills,  the  song  of  birds,  the  laughter  of 
happy  childhood ;  its  diapason  the  roar  of  mills  and 
the  hum  of  industry;  its  votaries  the  peoples  of  the 
earth ;  its  creed,  on  which  hangs  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Above 
its  altars  in  inefifaceable  color  will  live  eternally  the 
vision  of  its  artificer. 

Therefore,  my  fellow-countrymen,  not  I,  but  his 
deeds  and  achievements;  not  I,  but  the  spirit  and 
purpose  of  America ;  not  I,  but  the  prayers  of  just 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  199 

men;  not  I,  but  civilization  itself  nominates  to 
succeed  himself  to  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States,  to  the  presidency  of  a  hundred  million  free 
people,  bound  in  impregnable  union,  the  scholar, 
the  statesman,  the  financier,  the  emancipator,  the 
pacificator,  the  moral  leader  of  democracy,  Wood- 
row  Wilson. 

"A  Plumed  Knight" 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll  I 

This  well-known  speech,  delivered  in  the  Republican  National  Con- 
vention of  1876,  has  long  been  a  favorite  for  declaiming.  It  is 
given  here  as  a  companion  selection  to  the  preceding  both  because 
of  its  intrinsic  merit  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  students 
an  opportunity  to  compare  the  style  of  the  vo  speeches.  After 
Ingersoll  delivered  this  speech,  the  term  "Plumed  Knight"  clung  to 
Blaine  during  the  remainder  of  his  political  career.  In  delivery  this 
declamation  demands  all  the  fire  and  force  you  can  muster:  dynamic, 
ringing  tones,  shot  forth  like  bullets  from  a  gun.  Following  the 
climax  at  the  end  of  the  second  paragraph,  there  is  a  transition  re- 
quiring slower  rate  and  a  change  in  tone,  resulting  from  the  change 
in  emotional  appeal,  but  aside  from  such  momentary  changes,  the 
delivery  throughout  should  be  with  strong  force  and  "explosive" 
tones. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand 
as  their  leader  in  this  great  contest  of  1876  a  man 
of  intelligence,  a  man  of  integrity,  a  man  of  well- 
known  and  approved  political  opinions.  They  de- 
mand a  statesman.  They  demand  a  politician  in 
the  highest,  broadest,  and  best  sense,  a  man  of 
superb  moral  courage.  They  demand  a  man  who 
knows  that  prosperity  and  resumption,  when  they 
come,  must  come  together;  that  when  they  come, 
they  will  come  hand  in  hand  through  the  golden 
harvest  fields ;  hand  in  hand  by  the  whirling  spindles 


ao©  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

and  the  turning  wheels ;  hand  in  hand  past  the  open 
furnace  doors ;  hand  in  hand  by  the  flaming  forges ; 
hand  in  hand  by  the  chimneys  filled  with  eager 
fire,  greeted  and  grasped  by  the  countless  sons  of 
toil. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  want  a 
man  who  knows  that  this  government  should  pro- 
tect every  citizen  at  home  and  abroad ;  who  knows 
that  any  government  that  will  not  defend  its  de- 
fenders and  protect  its  protectors  is  a  disgrace  to 
the  map  of  the  world.  They  demand  a  man  who 
believes  in  the  eternal  separation  and  divorcement 
of  church  and  school.  They  demand  a  man  whose 
political  reputation  is  spotless.  Crowned  with  the 
vast  and  marvelous  achievements  of  its  first  century, 
this  nation  asks  for  a  man  worthy  of  the  past  and 
prophetic  of  the  future;  asks  for  a  man  who  has 
the  audacity  of  genius;  asks  for  a  man  who  has 
the  grandest  combination  of  heart,  conscience,  and 
brain  beneath  her  flag.  Such  a  man  is  James  G. 
Blaine. 

This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with  the 
recollections  of  the  Revolution,  filled  with  the  proud 
and  tender  memories  of  the  past,  with  the  sacred 
legends  of  liberty — a  year  in  which  the  sons  of 
freedom  will  drink  from  the  fountain  of  enthusiasm 
— a  year  in  which  the  people  call  for  a  man  who 
has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our  soldiers  won 
upon  the  field — for  the  man  who,  like  an  intellectual 
athlete,  has  stood  in  the  arena  of  debate  and  chal- 
lenged all  comers,  and  who  is  still  a  total  stranger 
to  defeat. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  201 

Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed  knight, 
James  G.  Blaine  marched  down  the  halls  of  the 
American  Congress  and  threw  his  shining  lance  full 
and  fair  against  the  brazen  foreheads  of  the  de- 
famers  of  his  country  and  the  maligner  of  her 
honor.  For  the  Republican  party  to  desert  this 
gallant  leader  now  is  as  though  an  army  should 
desert  their  leader  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  In  the  name  of 
this  great  Republic,  in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders 
and  of  all  her  supporters ;  in  the  name  of  all  her 
soldiers  living;  in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers  dead 
upon  the  field  of  battle;  and  in  the  name  of  those 
who  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch  of  famine  at 
Andersonville  and  Libby,  whose  suiiferings  she  so 
vividly  remembers,  Illinois — Illinois  nominates  for 
the  President  of  this  country  that  prince  of  parlia- 
mentarians, that  leader  of  leaders — James  G.  Blaine. 

America  and  International  Peace 
Theodore  Roosevelt 

Mr.  Roosevelt  is  not  an  orator.  Long,  sonorous,  oratorical  periods 
do  not  fit  his  nature  and  methods.  He  strikes  out  straight  from 
the  shoulder  with  a  definite  aim,  and  the  style  of  his  speeches  is 
direct,  forceful  talk,  with  an  occasional  emphatic  gesture.  This  is 
the   proper   interpretation   of  this   daclamation   for   delivery. 

No  sensible  man  will  advocate  our  plunging 
rashly  into  a  course  of  international  knight-errantry  ; 
none  will  advocate  our  setting  deliberately  to  work 
to  build  up  a  great  colonial  empire.  But  neither 
will  any  brave  and  patriotic  man  bid  us  shrink 
from  doing  our  duty  merely  because  this  duty  in- 


202  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

volves  the  certainty   of   strenuous   effort  and   the 
possibility  of  danger. 

We  should  not  lightly  court  danger  and  diffi- 
culty, but  neither  should  we  shirk  from  facing 
them,  when  in  some  way  or  other  they  must  be 
met.  We  are  a  great  nation  and  we  are  compelled, 
whether  we  will  or  not,  to  face  the  responsibilities 
that  must  be  faced  by  all  great  nations.  It  is  not 
in  our  power  to  avoid  meeting  them.  All  that  we 
can  decide  is  whether  we  shall  meet  them  well  or 
ill.  There  are  social  reformers  who  tell  us  that  in 
the  far  distant  future  the  necessity  for  fighting  will 
be  done  away  with,  just  as  there  are  social  re- 
formers who  tell  us  that  in  that  long  distant  time 
the  necessity  for  work — or,  at  least,  for  painful, 
laborious  work — will  be  done  away  with.  But,  just 
as  at  present,  the  nation,  like  the  individual,  which 
is  going  to  do  anything  in  the  world  must  face  the 
fact  that  in  order  to  do  it  it  must  work  and  may 
have  to  fight.  And  it  is  only  thus  that  great  deeds 
can  be  done,  and  the  highest  and  purest  form  of 
happiness  acquired.  Remember  that  peace  itself, 
that  peace  after  which  all  men  crave,  is  merely  the 
realization  in  the  present  of  what  has  been  bought 
by  strenuous  effort  in  the  past.  Peace  represents 
stored-up  effort  of  our  fathers  or  of  ourselves  in 
the  past.  It  is  not  a  means — it  is  an  end.  You  do 
not  get  peace  by  peace ;  you  get  peace  as  the  result 
of  effort.  If  you  strive  to  get  it  by  peace,  you  will 
lose  it,  that  is  all.  If  we  ever  grow  to  regard 
peace  as  a  permanent  condition;  if  we  ever  grow 
to  feel  that  we  can  afford  to  let  the  keen,  fearless, 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  203 

virile  qualities  of  heart  and  mind  and  body  be 
lost,  then  we  will  prepare  the  way  for  inevitable 
and  shameful  disaster  in  the  future. 

Peace  is  of  true  value  only  as  we  use  it  in  part 
to  make  ready  to  face  with  untroubled  heart,  with 
fearless  front,  whatever  the  future  may  have  in 
store  for  us.  The  peace  which  breeds  timidity  and 
sloth  is  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing.  The  law  of 
worthy  national  life,  like  the  law  of  worthy  in- 
dividual life,  is,  after  all,  fundamentally,  the  law 
of  strife.  It  may  be  strife  military,  it  may  be  strife 
civic;  but  certain  it  is  that  only  through  strife, 
through  labor,  and  painful  effort,  by  grim  energy 
and  by  resolute  courage,  we  move  on  to  better  things. 

A  Pan-American  Policy 
Elihu  Root 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  at  the  Pan-American  Conference 
held  at  Rio  Janeiro,  South  America,  Mr.  Root  being  at  that  time 
Secretary  of  State.  It  was  an  epoch-making  speech,  since  it  was 
the  first  noteworthy  official  utterance  of  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States  toward  the  South  American  republics. 

No  nation  can  live  unto  itself  alone  and  continue 
to  live.  Each  nation's  growth  is  a  part  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  race.  There  may  be  leaders  and 
there  may  be  laggards,  but  no  nation  can  long  con- 
tinue very  far  in  advance  of  the  general  progress 
of  mankind,  and  no  nation  that  is  not  doomed  to 
extinction  can  remain  very  far  behind.  It  is  with 
nations  as  it  is  with  individual  men ;  intercourse, 
association,  correction  of  egotism  by  the  influence 
of  others'  judgment,  broadening  of  views  by  the 


204  IVinning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

experience  and  thought  of  equals,  acceptance  of 
the  moral  standards  of  a  community  the  desire  for 
whose  good  opinion  lends  a  sanction  to  the  rules  of 
right  conduct, — these  are  the  conditions  of  growth 
in  civilization.  A  people  whose  minds  are  not  open 
to  the  lessons  of  the  world's  progress,  whose  spirits 
are  not  stirred  by  the  aspirations  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  humanity  struggling  the  world  over  for 
liberty  and  justice,  must  be  left  behind  by  civiliza- 
tion in  its  steady  and  beneficent  advance. 

These  beneficent  results  the  Government  and 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America  greatly 
desire.  We  wish  for  no  victories  but  those  of 
peace ;  for  no  territory  except  our  own ;  for  no 
sovereignty  except  the  sovereignty  over  ourselves. 
We  deem  the  independence  and  equal  rights  of  the 
smallest  and  weakest  member  of  the  family  of  na- 
tions entitled  to  as  much  respect  as  those  of  the 
greatest  empire,  and  we  deem  the  observance  of 
that  respect  the  chief  guaranty  of  the  weak  against 
the  oppression  of  the  strong.  We  neither  claim 
nor  desire  any  rights,  or  privileges,  or  powers  that 
we  do  not  freely  concede  to  every  American  re- 
public. We  wish  to  increase  our  prosperity,  to 
expand  our  trade,  to  grow  in  wealth,  in  wisdom, 
and  in  spirit,  but  our  conception  of  the  true  way 
to  accomplish  this  is  not  to  pull  down  others  and 
profit  by  their  ruin,  -but  to  help  all  friends  to  a 
common  prosperity  and  a  common  growth,  that  we 
may  all  become  greater  and  stronger  together. 

Let  us  help  each  other  to  show  that  for  all  the 
races  of  men  the  Liberty  for  which  we  have  fought 


Winning  Declamations^How  to  Speak  Them  205 

and  labored  is  the  twin  sister  of  Justice  and  Peace. 
Let  us  unite  in  creating  and  maintaining  and  mak- 
ing effective  an  all-American  public  opinion,  whose 
power  shall  influence  international  conduct  and  pre- 
vent international  wrong,  and  narrow  the  causes  of 
war,  and  forever  preserve  our  free  lands  from  the 
burden  of  such  armaments  as  are  massed  behind 
the  frontiers  of  Europe,  and  bring  us  ever  nearer 
to  the  perfection  of  ordered  liberty.  So  shall  come 
security  and  prosperity,  production  and  trade, 
wealth,  learning,  the  arts,  and  happiness  for  us  all. 
Not  in  a  single  conference,  nor  by  a  single  effort, 
can  very  much  be  done.  You  labor  more  for  the 
future  than  for  the  present ;  but  if  the  right  impulse 
is  given,  if  the  right  tendency  be  established,  the 
work  you  do  here  will  go  on  among  all  the  millions 
of  people  in  the  American  continents  long  after 
your  final  adjournment,  long  after  your  lives,  with 
incalculable  benefit  to  all  our  beloved  countries, 
which  may  it  please  God  to  continue  free  and  in- 
dependent and  happy  for  ages  to  come. 

War 

Editorial  from  Leslie's  Weekly 

This  selection,  and  several  others  immediately  following,  deal  with 
phases  of  the  general  subject  of  International  Peace.  The  following 
declamation  is  a  vivid  portrayal  of  the  horrors  and  folly  of  war. 
The  resulting  emotions,  with  a  proper  ^distribution  of  force,  should 
readily  find  expression  in  the  delivery. 

The  last  of  the  savage  instincts  is  war.  The 
cave  man's  club  made  law  and  procured  food. 
Might  decreed  right.     Warriors  were  saviours. 


2o6  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

In  Nazareth  a  carpenter  laid  down  the  saw  and 
preached  the  brotherhood  of  man.  Twelve  cen- 
turies afterwards  his  followers  marched  to  the 
Holy  Land  to  destroy  all  who  differed  with  them 
in  the  worship  of  the  God  of  Love.  Triumphantly 
they  wrote,  "In  Solomon's  Porch  and  in  his  temple 
our  men  rode  in  the  blood  of  the  Saracens  up  to 
the  knees  of  their  horses." 

History  is  an  appalling  tale  of  war.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  Germany,  France,  Sweden,  and 
Spain  warred  for  thirty  years.  At  Madgeburg 
30,000  out  of  36,000  were  killed  regardless  of  sex 
or  age.  In  Germany  schools  were  closed  a  third 
of  a  century,  homes  burned,  women  outraged, 
towns  demolished,  and  the  untilled  land  became  a 
wilderness. 

Two-thirds  of  Germany's  property  was  destroyed 
and  18,000,000  of  her  citizens  were  killed,  because 
men  quarrelled  about  the  way  to  glorify  "The 
Prince  of  Peace."  Marching  through  rain  and 
snow,  sleeping  on  the  ground,  eating  stale  food  or 
starving,  contracting  diseases  and  facing  guns  that 
fire  six  hundred  times  a  minute,  for  fifty  cents  a 
day — this  is  the  soldier's  life. 

At  the  window  sits  the  widowed  mother  crying. 
Little  children  with  tearful  faces  pressed  against 
the  pane  watch  and  wait.  Their  means  of  liveli- 
hood, their  home,  their  happiness  is  gone.  Father- 
less children,  broken-hearted  women,  sick,  disabled 
and  dead  men — this  is  the  wage  of  war. 

We  spend  more  money  preparing  men  to  kill 
each  other  than  we  do  in  teaching  them  to  live. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  207 

We  spend  more  money  building  one  battleship  than 
in  the  annual  maintenance  of  all  our  state  uni- 
versities. The  financial  loss  resulting  from  destroy- 
ing one  another's  homes  in  the  civil  war  would 
have  built  15,000,000  houses,  each  costing  $2,000. 
We  pray  for  love  but  prepare  for  hate.  We  preach 
peace  but  equip  for  war. 

Were  half  the  power  that  fills  the  world  with  terror, 
Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camp  and  court 

Given  to  redeem  this  world  from  error. 

There  would  be  no  need  of  arsenal  and  fort. 

War  only  defers  a  question.  No  issue  will  ever 
really  be  settled  until  it  is  settled  rightly.  Like 
rival  "gun  gangs"  in  a  back  alley,  the  nations  of 
the  world,  through  the  bloody  ages,  have  fought 
over  their  differences.  Denver  cannot  fight  Chicago 
and  Iowa  cannot  fight  Ohio.  Why  should  Germany 
be  permitted  to  fight  France,  or  Bulgaria  fight 
Turkey? 

When  mankind  rises  above  creeds,  colors  and 
countries,  when  we  are  citizens,  not  of  a  nation, 
but  of  the  world,  the  armies  and  navies  of  the  earth 
will  constitute  an  international  police  force  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  and  the  dove  will  take  the  eagle's 
place.  Our  dififerences  will  be  settled  by  an  inter- 
national court  with  the  power  to  enforce  its  man- 
dates. In  times  of  peace  prepare  for  peace.  The 
wages  of  war  are  the  wages  of  sin,  and  the  "wages 
of  sin  is  death." 


2o8  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

France  at  the  Opening  of  the  Great  War 

Robert  W.  Chambers 

This  declamation  is  adapted  from  a  story  appearing  in  the  Cos- 
mopolitan  for  June,  191 6.  For  a  keener  appreciation  of  its  meaning, 
review  the  his-tory  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War  and  of  the  part  France 
played  in  the  recent  Great  War.  In  delivery,  special  effort  should 
be  made  to  present  smoothly  the  many  shifting  scenes  of  the  war 
drama,  the  while  voicing  the  suspense  felt  in  France  and  the  win- 
some appeal  of  "the  far  cry  from  beyond  the  Vosges." 

On  August  5th,  1914,  in  the  little  town  of  Ausone, 
in  eastern  France,  there  were  few  signs  of  war 
visible  except  the  exodus  of  the  young  men  and 
the  crowds  before  the  bulletins.  On  one  of  the 
bulletin  boards  was  nailed  the  order  for  general 
mobilization;  on  the  other,  a  terse  paragraph  an- 
nounced that  on  Sunday,  August  2nd,  German 
soldiers  had  entered  the  city  of  Luxemburg,  crossed 
the  grand  duchy,  and  were  already  skirmishing" 
with  Belgian  cavalry  around  Liege  and  with  French 
troops  before  Longwy.  In  other  terms,  the  Teu- 
tonic invasion  had  begun;  German  troops  were 
already  on  French  soil,  for  Longwy  is  the  most 
northern  of  the  republic's  fortifications. 

Another  paragraph  reported  that  King  Albert  of 
Belgium  had  appealed  to  England,  and  that  Sir 
Edward  Grey,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  had 
prepared  his  country  for  an  immediate  ultimatum 
to  Germany. 

And  Germany  had  not  yet  declared  war  on  either 
France  or  Belgium,  nor  had  England  declared  war 
on  Germajiy,  nor  had  Austria,  as  yet,  formally  de- 
clared war  on  Russia. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  209 

But  there  seemed  to  be  no  doubt,  no  confusion, 
in  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ausone  concern- 
ing what  was  happening,  and  what  fate  still  con- 
cealed behind  a  veil  already  growing  transparent 
enough  to  see  through — already  lighted  by  the  in- 
fernal flashes  of  German  rifle-fire  before  Longwy. 

Everybody  in  Ausone  knew,  everybody  in  France 
understood.  A  great  stillness  settled  over  the  re- 
public, as  though  the  entire  land  had  paused  to 
kneel  a  moment  before  the  long  day  of  work  began. 

Amid  the  vast  silence,  as  the  nation  rose  serenely 
from  its  knees,  millions  of  flashing  eyes  were 
turned  toward  Alsace  and  Lorraine — eyes  dimmed 
for  an  instant,  then  instantly  clear  again — clear 
and  steady  as  the  sound  and  logical  minds  con- 
trolling them. 

In  London,  a  king,  a  prime  minister,  and  a  first 
lord  of  the  admiralty  were  listening  to  a  sirdar 
who  was  laying  down  the  law  by  wireless  to  a 
president  and  his  premier.  In  St.  Petersburg,  an 
emperor  was  whispering  to  a  priest. 

Meanwhile,  the  spinning  world  swung  on  around 
its  orbit;  tides  rose  and  ebbed;  the  twin  sentinels 
of  the  skies  relieved  each  other  as  usual,  and  a  few 
billion  stars  waited  patiently  for  eternity. 

Ausone  was  waiting,  too,  amid  its  still  trees  and 
ripening  fields.  In  the  summer  world  around,  no 
hint  of  impending  change  disturbed  the  calm 
serenity  of  that  August  afternoon — no  sense  of 
waiting,  no  prophecy  of  gathering  storms.  But  in 
men's  hearts  reigned  the  breathless  stillness  which 
heralds  tempests. 


210  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Silently  as  a  kestrel's  shadow  gliding  over  the 
grass,  an  ominous  shade  sped  over  sunny  France, 
darkening  the  light  in  millions  of  smiling  eyes, 
subduing  speech,  stilling  all  pulses,  cautioning  a 
nation's  ardent  heart  and  conjuring  its  ears  to  listen 
and  its  lips  to  silence. 

And  as  France  sat  silent,  listening,  hand  lightly 
resting  on  her  hilt,  came  the  far  cry  from  beyond 
Vosges — the  voice  of  her  lost  children,  the  long- 
mourned  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

Now  she  had  risen  to  her  feet,  loosening  the 
blade  in  its  scabbard.  But  she  had  not  yet  drawn 
it;  she  still  stood  listening  to  the  distant  shots 
from  Longwy  in  the  north,  to  the  noise  of  the 
western  wind  blowing  across  the  Channel ;  and  al- 
ways she  heard,  from  the  east,  the  lost  voices  of 
her  best  beloved,  calling,  calling  her  from  beyond 
the  Vosges. 


»*,    "  The  Woe  of  Belgium 

Newell  D wight  Hillis 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  lecture  delivered  in  Plymouth  Church, 
Brooklyn,  shortly  after  the  German  drive  through  Belgium  at  the 
opening  of  the  recent  Great  War.  Pathos  is,  of  course,  the  dominant 
emotion.  This  gives  way  momentarily  to  other  emotions  in  parts 
of  the  first  two  paragraphs,  but  the  pathos  of  the  whole  is  to  be 
strongly  felt  and  expressed. 

Out  of  a  glorious  past  comes  the  woe  of  Belgium. 
Desolation  has  come  like  the  whirlwind,  and  de- 
struction like  a  tornado.  But  a  short  time  ago 
and  Belgium  was  a  hive  of  industry,  and  in  the 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  211 

fields  were  heard  the  harvest  songs.  Suddenly, 
Germany  struck  Belgium.  The  whole  world  has 
but  one  voice,  "Belgium  has  innocent  hands."  She 
was  led  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter.  When  the 
lover  of  Germany  is  asked  to  explain  Germany's 
breaking  of  her  solemn  treaty  upon  the  neutrality  of 
Belgium,  the  German  stands  dumb  and  speechless. 
Merchants  honor  their  written  obligations.  True 
citizens  consider  their  word  as  good  as  their  bond ; 
Germany  gave  a  treaty,  and  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  the  civilized  world,  entered  into  a  solemn 
convenant  with  Belgium.  To  the  end  of  time,  the 
German  must  expect  this  taunt,  "as  worthless  as 
a  German  treaty."  Scarcely  less  black  are  the  two 
or  three  known  examples  of  cruelty  wrought  upon 
nonresisting  Belgians.  In  Brooklyn  lives  a  Bel- 
gian woman.  She  planned  to  return  home  in  late 
July  to  visit  a  father  who  had  suffered  paralysis, 
an  aged  mother,  and  a  sister  who  nursed  both. 
When  the  Germans  decided  to  burn  that  village  in 
Eastern  Belgium,  they  did  not  wish  to  burn  alive 
this  old  and  helpless  man,  so  they  bayonetted  to 
death  the  old  man  and  woman,  and  the  daughter 
that  nursed  them. 

Let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  This 
is  the  one  example  of  atrocity  that  you  and  I  might 
be  able  personally  to  prove.  But  every  loyal  Ger- 
man in  the  country  can  make  answer :  "These  sol- 
diers were  drunk  with  wine  and  blood.  Such  an 
atrocity  misrepresents  Germany  and  her  soldiers. 
The  breaking  of  Germany's  treaty  with  Belgium 
\     represents  the  dishonor  of  a  military  ring,  and  not 


212  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

the  perfidy  of  68,000,000  of  people.     We  ask  that 
judgment  be  postponed  until  all  the  facts  are  in." 

But  meanwhile  the  heart  bleeds  for  Belgium. 
For  Brussels,  the  third  most  beautiful  city  in 
Europe !  For  Louvain,  once  rich  with  its  libraries, 
cathedrals,  statues,  paintings,  missals,  manuscripts 
— ^now  a  ruin.  Alas !  for  the  ruined  harvests  and 
the  smoking  villages  !  Alas !  for  the  Cathedral  that 
is  a  heap,  and  the  library  that  is  a  ruin.  Where 
the  angel  of  happiness  was,  there  stalk  Famine  and 
Death.  Gone,  the  Land  of  Grotius !  Perished  the 
paintings  of  Rubens !  Ruined  is  Louvain.  Where 
the  wheat  waved,  now  the  hillsides  are  billowy  with 
graves. 

But  let  us  believe  that  God  reigns.  The  spirit 
of  evil  caused  this  war,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  may 
bring  good  out  of  it,  just  as  the  summer  can  repair 
the  ravages  of  winter.  Perchance  Belgium  is  slain 
like  the  Saviour,  that  militarism  may  die  like  Satan. 
Without  shedding  of  innocent  blood  there  is  no 
remission  of  sins  through  tyranny  and  greed.  There 
is  no  wine  without  the  crushing  of  the  grapes  from 
the  tree  of  life.  Soon  Liberty,  God's  dear  child, 
will  stand  within  the  scene  and  comfort  the  desolate. 
Falling  upon  the  great  world's  altar  stairs,  in  this 
hour  when  wisdom  is  ignorance,  and  the  strongest 
man  clutches  at  dust  and  straw,  let  us  believe,  with 
faith  victorious  over  tears,  that  some  time  God  will 
gather  broken-hearted  little  Belgium  into  His  arms 
and  comfort  her  as  a  Father  comforteth  his  well- 
beloved  child. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  213 

The  Dead  Hand  of  the  Past  in  Europe 

Albert  Leon  Guerard 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  commencement  address  delivered  in  June, 
1916.  The  speaker  is  an  immigrant  to  America,  and  now  Professor 
of  History  in  Rice  Institute.  He  is  therefore  well  qualified  to  speak 
authoritatively  on  his  theme. 

The  reason  for  America's  sanity  as  a  nation,  the 
unique  power  which  enables  her  to  welcome  men 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  and  to  turn  them  into 
loyal  citizens,  is  that  America  is  a  country  that 
looks  forward  instead  of  backward — in  other  terms, 
a  country  whose  ideals  are  principles  instead  of 
traditions.  Europe  is  suffering  from  an  overdose 
of  the  historical  spirit ;  Europe  lacks  the  healthy 
radicalism,  the  youthfulness,  I  had  almost  said  the 
boyishness,  of  the  American  mind.  When  you 
travel  in  dear  old  Europe,  you  are  delighted  wath 
the  quaint  villages,  the  churches  and  castles  hoary 
with  centuries,  the  bright  costumes  of  the  peasant 
women,  the  narrow,  crooked  lanes  of  medieval 
cities,  the  pomp  of  court  functions  and  military 
pageants.  History  is  beautiful  for  the  poet,  the 
artist,  and  even  for  the  casual  traveller.  But  Europe 
is  choked  up  with  history.  The  German  imagina- 
tion is  so  filled  wdth  thoughts  of  the  middle  ages 
that,  with  them,  history  amounts  to  an  obsession, 
to  a  mental  disease.  For  a  long  time  the  French 
would  hark  back  to  ancient  Gaul,  with  the  Rhine 
as  its  Northeastern  boundary.  The  French  and  the 
Germans  are  still  fighting  out  the  consequences  of 
the  treaty  of  Verdun  in  843.     Traditions,  customs, 


214  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

institutions,  dynasties,  have  cast  their  potent  spells 
over  the  minds  of  our  European  friends.  They 
are  haunted  with  the  memories  of  the  gorgeous  and 
tragic  past,  and  in  the  shadowy  world  in  which 
they  live  they  have  lost  the  sense  of  actual  values. 

The  nationalistic,  traditionalist  education  of 
Europe  fosters  exclusiveness,  diffidence,  hatred. 
Hence  the  strange  paradox  that  the  best  educated  of 
all  European  nations  is  also  the  most  bigoted  in  its 
pride  and  selfishness;  that  the  hateful  prejudices 
which  caused  the  Great  War  were  engendered,  not 
by  the  common  people,  but  by  poets,  politicians  and 
University  professors. 

All  of  us,  when  we  come  to  America,  are  wel- 
come to  preserve  our  sentimental  and  artistic  tradi- 
tions, but  we  are  expected  to  leave  behind  all  the' 
hereditary  jealousies  which  are  the  warp  and  woof 
of  European  history.  What  Europe  needs  is  a 
similar  experience,  a  great  unlearning,  a  mighty 
revolution  against  the  dead  hand  of  the  past  that 
still  oppresses  her.  The  past  is  past!  Let  us 
cherish  the  fine  old  stories  of  our  fathers'  heroic 
deeds.  But  let  us  settle  all  present  and  future 
differences  as  men  of  the  twentieth  century.  If 
we  could  but  conjure  away  that  incubus  of  historical 
traditions,  peace  would  be  at  hand. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  215 

To  Liberate  Ireland  is  not  Treason  to  England 

Roger  Casement 

A  pathetic  incident  connected  with  the  Great  European  War  was 
the  effort  of  a  small  band  of  Irishmen,  under  the  leadership  of  Sir 
Roger  Casement,  to  liberate  Ireland  from  English  rule.  The  upris- 
ing was  soon  quelled,  and  several  of  the  active  participants  were 
executed.  Casement  was  tried  for  high  treason,  and  sentenced  to 
death.  The  following  selection  is  taken  from  his  speech  in  court  at 
the  close  of  his  trial,  June  29,  1916.  Students  of  oratory  will  be 
reminded  of  the  speech  by  Robert  Emmet  delivered  in  his  own 
defease  under  similar  circumstances.  The  trial  of  Casement  at- 
tracted world-wide  attention.  "The  whole  scene,"  wrote  the  cor- 
respondent for  the  New  Y3rk  Times,  "with  Casement  a  somber  figure 
in  black  standing  in  the  dark  shadow  of  the  dock,  with  a  filtering; 
ray  of  sunlight  shining  upon  the  three  Justices  before  whom  he  stood, 
was  one  that  riveted  the  spectators  to  the  end."  A  vivid  imagery  of 
the  whole  setting  of  this  speech,  and  strong  sustained  feeling  through- 
out, are  necessary  for  effective  delivery. 

It  is  charged  here  that  my  efforts  to  liberate 
Ireland  were  the  more  highly  treasonable  because 
England  was  battling  for  her  life.  But  why,  for- 
sooth, should  Ireland  battle  for  England?  More- 
over, when  I  saw  Englishmen  themselves  refusing 
to  enter  the  army,  I  saw  no  reason  why  Irishmen 
should  be  slain  for  Englishmen's  gain.  If  a  small 
subjugated  nation  like  Belgium  is  entitled  to  any 
consideration,  I  saw  no  reason  why  Ireland  should 
shed  any  blood  for  any  people  but  her  own. 

If  that  be  treason,  I  am  not  ashamed  to  avow  it 
here.  I  am  prouder  to  stand  here,  in  a  traitor's 
dock,  than  to  fill  the  place  of  my  accusers. 

This  court,  this  jury,  the  public  opinion  of  this 
country,  England,  cannot  but  be  prejudiced  in  vary- 
ing degrees  against  me,  most  of  all  in  time  of  war. 
I  did  not  land  in  England;  I  landed  in  Ireland. 


2i6  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

But  for  the  Attorney  General  of  England  there  is 
no  Ireland,  there  is  only  England ;  there  is  no  right 
of  Ireland,  only  the  law  of  England.  Yet  for  me, 
the  Irish  outlaw,  there  is  a  land  of  Ireland,  a  right 
of  Ireland,  a  charter  for  all  Irishmen  to  appeal 
to  in  the  last  resort,  a  charter  that  even  the  very 
statutes  of  England  cannot  deprive  me  of,  a  charter 
that  Englishmen  themselves  assert  as  a  fundamental 
bond  of  law  that  connects  the  two  kingdoms, — the 
right  to  trial  by  my  peers. 

That  is  the  condemnation  of  English  rule  in 
Ireland,  of  English-made  law,  that  it  dare  not  rest 
on  the  will  of  the  Irish  people,  but  exists  in  de- 
fiance of  their  will,  that  it  is  a  rule  derived,  not 
from  right,  but  from  conquest.  Conquest  gives  no 
title ;  it  can  exert  no  empire  over  men's  reason  and 
judgment  and  affections.  It  is  from  this  law  of 
conquest,  without  title  to  the  reason,  judgment,  and 
affections  of  my  own  countrymen,  that  I  appeal. 

I  am  being  tried,  in  truth,  not  by  my  peers  of 
the  living  present  but  by  fears  of  the  dead  past; 
not  by  the  civilization  of  the  twentieth  century, 
but  by  the  brutality  of  the  fourteenth ;  not  even  by 
a  statute  framed  in  the  language  of  the  land  that 
tries  me,  but  emitted  in  the  language  of  an  enemy- 
land  ;  so  antiquated  is  the  law  that  must  be  sought 
to-day  to  slay  an  Irishman  whose  offense  is  that 
he  puts  Ireland  first. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  217 

The  Protection  of  American  Citizens 

William  P.  Frye 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  U.  S.  Senate, 
Mr.  Frye  for  a  number  of  terms  having  represented  the  State  of 
Maine  in  that  body.  It  will  be  interesting  to  compare  the  sentiment 
of  this  speech  with  the  one  immediately  following.  The  argument 
and  sentiment  of  this  declamation  revolves  about  the  illustrative 
story.  This  should  be  vividly  presented.  See  the  picture:  the 
stretch  of  swamps  and  morass,  the  frowning  dungeon  on  the  moun- 
tain heights,  the  battle  and  the  rescue.  Some  suggestive  gestures 
will  naturally  be  used,  but  make  them  suggestive  only,  and  not 
imitative.  Don't,  for  example,  go  through  the  movements  of  reach- 
ing down  in  the  dungeon  and  lifting  out  the  prisoner. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  of  the  duty  the  citizen  owes 
the  government,  and  too  Httle  of  the  duty  the 
government  owes  the  citizen.  American  citizens 
should  be  protected  in  their  life  and  liberty  where- 
ever  they  may  be  and  at  any  cost. 

I  think  one  of  the  grandest  things  in  the  history 
of  Great  Britain  is  that  she  does  protect  her  citizens 
everywhere  and  anywhere,  under  all  circumstances. 
Her  mighty  power  is  put  forth  for  their  relief  and 
protection,  and  it  is  admirable.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  a  British  citizen  loves  his  country. 

About  twenty  years  ago  the  king  of  Abyssinia 
took  a  British  citizen  by  the  name  of  Campbell,  car- 
ried him  to  the  heights  of  a  lofty  mountain,  to  the 
fortress  of  Magdala,  and  put  him  into  a  dungeon 
without  cause.  It  took  Great  Britain  six  months  to 
learn  of  that,  and  then  she  demanded  his  immediate 
release.  The  king  of  Abyssinia  refused  to  release 
him.  In  less  than  ten  days  after  that  refusal  3000 
British  soldiers  and  5000  Sepoys  were  on  board 


2i8  Winning  Declamatiotis-How  to  Speak  Them 

ships  of  war,  sailing  for  the  Abyssinian  coast. 
When  they  arrived  they  were  disembarked,  were 
marched  seven  hundred  miles  over  swamps  and 
morass,  under  a  burning  sun,  then  up  the  mountain 
to  its  very  heights,  in  front  of  the  frowning  dun- 
geon, and  then  they  gave  battle.  They  battered 
down  the  iron  gates,  they  overturned  the  stone 
walls.  Then  they  reached  down  into  that  dungeon 
with  an  English  hand,  lifted  out  from  it  that  one 
British  citizen,  took  him  to  the  coast  and  sped  him 
away  on  the  white-winged  ships  to  his  home  in 
safety.  That  expedition  cost  Great  Britain 
$25,000,000. 

Now,  sir,  a  country  that  has  an  eye  that  can  see 
across  an  ocean,  away  across  the  many  miles  of  land, 
up  into  the  mountain  heights,  down  into  the  dark- 
some dungeon,  one,  just  one  of  her  38,000,000  peo- 
ple, and  then  has  an  arm  strong  enough  and  long 
enough  to  reach  across  the  same  ocean,  across  the 
same  swamps  and  marshes,  up  the  same  mountain 
heights,  down  into  the  same  dungeon,  and  take  him 
out  and  carry  him  home  to  his  own  country,  a  free 
man — where  will  you  find  a  man  who  will  not  live 
and  die  for  a  country  that  will  do  that  ? 

All  that  I  ask  of  this  republic  of  ours  is  that  it 
shall  model  itself  after  Great  Britain  in  this  one 
thing — that  wherever  the  American  citizen  may  be, 
whether  in  Great  Britain,  Cuba,  Turkey,  China  or 
Mexico,  he  shall  be  perfectly  assured  of  the  fullest 
protection  of  the  American  government. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  219 

Against  Militarism 
William  J.  Bryan 

This  is  the  concluding  portion  of  a  lecture  delivered  many  times 
during  the  years  1915  and  1916.  Mr.  Bryan  is  generally  recognized 
as  one  of  the  leading  representatives  of  the  pacifists,  or  peace  party. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  following  selection  is  an  answer,  in  a  way, 
to  the  one  preceding.  Tlie  first  paragraph  deals  for  the  most 
part  with  argument.  This  should  be  delivered  with  directness, 
earnestness,  and  force.  The  last  three  paragraphs  are  largely  appeal, 
and  require  yet  more  force  with  strong  feeling. 

Every  American  citizen  has  duties  as  well  as 
rights.  Do  you  say  that  it  is  the  duty  of  this  govern- 
ment to  take  its  army  and  follow  an  American 
citizen  around  the  world  and  protect  his  rights? 
That  is  only  one  side  of  the  proposition.  The  ob- 
ligations of  citizenship  are  reciprocal.  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  citizen  to  consider  his  country's  safety  and 
the  welfare  of  his  fellowmen.  In  time  of  war  the 
government  can  take  the  son  from  his  widowed 
mother  and  compel  him  to  give  his  life  to  help  his 
country  out  of  war.  If,  in  time  of  war,  the  govern- 
ment can  compel  its  citizens  to  die  in  order  to  bring 
the  war  to  an  end,  the  government  can,  in  time  of 
peace,  say  to  its  citizens  that  they  shall  not,  by  tak- 
ing unnecessary  risks,  drag  their  country  into  war. 

Some  nation  must  lift  the  world  out  of  the  black 
night  of  war  into  the  light  of  that  day  when  an  en- 
during peace  can  be  built  on  love  and  brotherhood, 
and  I  crave  that  honor  for  this  nation.  More  glori- 
ous than  any  page  of  history  that  has  yet  been  writ- 
ten will  be  the  page  that  records  our  claim  to  the 
promise  made  to  the  peacemakers. 


220  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

This  is  the  day  for  which  the  ages  have  been 
waiting.  For  nineteen  hundred  years  the  gospel  of 
the  Prince  of  Peace  has  been  making  its  majestic 
march  around  the  world,  and  during  these  centuries 
the  philosophy  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  has  be- 
come more  and  more  the  rule  of  daily  life.  It  only 
remains  to  lift  that  code  of  morals  from  the  level 
of  the  individual  and  make  it  real  in  the  law  of 
nations,  and  ours  is  the  nation  best  prepared  to  set 
the  example.  We  are  less  hampered  by  precedent 
than  other  nations  and  therefore  more  free  to  act. 
I  appreciate  the  value  of  precedent — what  higher 
tribute  can  I  pay  it  than  to  say  that  it  is  as  universal 
as  the  law  of  gravitation  and  as  necessary  to  stabil- 
ity? And  yet  the  law  of  gravitation  controls  only 
inanimate  nature — everything  that  lives  is  in  con- 
stant combat  with  the  law  of  gravitation.  The  tiniest 
insect  that  creeps  upon  the  ground  wins  a  victory 
over  It  every  time  it  moves ;  even  the  slender  blade 
of  grass  sings  a  song  of  triumph  over  the  universal 
law  as  it  lifts  itself  up  toward  the  sun.  So  every 
step  in  human  progress  breaks  the  law  of  precedent. 
Precedent  lives  in  the  past — it  relies  on  memory; 
because  a  thing  never  was,  precedent  declares  that 
it  can  never  be.  Progress  walks  by  faith  and  dares 
to  try  the  things  that  ought  to  be. 

This,  too,  is  the  leading  Christian  nation.  We 
give  more  money  every  year  to  carry  the  gospel 
to  those  who  live  under  other  flags  than  any  other 
nation  now  living  or  that  has  lived.  The  two  rea- 
sons combine  to  fix  the  eyes  of  the  world  upon  us 
as  the  one  nation  which  is  at  liberty  to  lead  the  way 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  221 

from  the  blood-stained  methods  of  the  past  out  into 
the  larger  and  better  day.  We  must  not  disappoint 
the  hopes  which  our  ideals  and  achievements  have 
excited.  If  I  know  the  heart  of  the  American  peo- 
ple they  are  not  willing  that  this  supreme  opportu- 
nity shall  pass  by  unimproved.  No,  the  metropolitan 
press  is  not  the  voice  of  the  nation ;  you  can  no  more 
measure  the  sentiment  of  the  peace-loving  masses 
by  the  froth  of  the  jingo  press  than  you  can  measure 
the  ocean's  depths  by  the  foam  upon  its  waves. 

The  American  Spirit  Incarnate 

Franklin  K.  Lane 

This  is  taken  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  commencement 
exercises  at  Brown  University,  June,  igi6.  This  is  a  strong,  direct 
talk  on  a  subject  of  live  interest.  The  concrete  illustration  in  the 
introduction  offers  a  fine  opening  for  driving  home  the  theme  that 
is  at  once  developed.  And  the  appeal  embodied  in  the  picture  of 
the  Belgians  before  the  American  flag,  together  with  the  brief  closing 
comment,  if  delivered  with  strong  emotion  and  in  sympathetic  tones, 
can  be  made  to  move  any  audience. 

There  are  two  monuments  in  Paris  which  face 
each  other  that  are  symbols  to  me  of  the  two  con- 
flicting spirits  which  make  up  the  struggle  of  life. 
One  is  the  tomb  of  Napoleon.  And  further  down 
the  boulevard  Falguire's  statue  of  Pasteur.  Na- 
poleon's tomb  all  see.  Pasteur's  statue  few  visit. 
It  is  a  sitting  figure  upon  a  pedestal.  And  on  the 
sides  of  this  pedestal  are  figures  in  relief  illustrating 
Pasteur's  services  to  the  world.  On  the  front  is  the 
great  group.  A  girl  is  seen  just  rising  from  a  sick- 
bed. She  leans  against  her  mother,  who  in  turn 
looks  up  with  ineflfable  gratitude  into  the  face  of 


222  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Pasteur,  while  a  figure  of  Death,  beaten  and  baffled, 
slinks  away  around  the  opposite  side  of  the  pedestal. 
National   spirit   and  martial   spirit   are  not   the 
same.     There  was  a  time  when  war  was  all  of 
romance  and  of  gallantry  and  of  opportunity  that 
the  world  offered.    That  time  has  gone.    War  now 
at  its  best  is  but  one  expression  of  the  human  pas- 
sion for  adventure  and  achievement.    The  spirit  of 
America  is  against  war  not  because  we  have  grown 
cowardly   and    fear   death,   nor   because   we   have 
grown  flabby  and  love  softness ;  no,  not  even  be- 
cause we  have  become  conscious  converts  to  the 
Prince  of  Peace.     But  we  in  America  have  some- 
thing larger  to  do.     We  are  discovering  our  coun- 
try.   Every  tree  is  a  challenge  to  us,  and  every  pool 
of  water  and  every  foot  of  soil.     The  mountains 
are  our  enemies ;  we  must  pierce  them  and  make 
them  serve.     The  willful  rivers  we  must  curb;  and 
out  of  the  seas  and  air  renew  the  life  of  the  earth 
itself.     We  have  no  time  for  war.     We  are  doing 
something  so  much  more  important.     We  are  at 
work.    That  is  the  greatest  of  all  adventures.  When 
war  comes  to  a  Democracy  it  comes  because  we  are 
not  allowed  peacefully  to  work.     What  would  we 
fight  for  ?    For  what  Roger  Williams  fought  for,  to 
be  let  alone,  to  have  the  opportunity  to  show  what 
man  can  do  for  man. 

My  friends,  if  the  American  spirit  gives  any  evi- 
dence of  being  in  a  state  of  decline  or  decadence  in 
the  East,  come  with  me  to  my  Western  country, — 
"Out  where  the  west  begins." 

A  spirit  is  intangible.     It  can  only  be  made  com- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  223 

prehensible  by  acts.  So  let  me  illustrate  my  idea 
of  the  spirit  of  America  by  citing  the  case  of  Her- 
bert Hoover,  a  mining  engineer  from  Stanford 
University  and  head  of  the  Belgian  Relief  Com- 
mittee. That  young  man  comes  to  this  country  un- 
noticed and  leaves  unnoticed.  But  his  adminis- 
trative mind  made  possible  the  feeding  of  a  nation. 
He  organized  the  financial  system  for  Belgium. 
Through  him  the  heart  of  the  world  spoke  to  those 
suffering  people.  Through  him  England  gave  five 
million  dollars  a  month  and  France  four-and-a-half 
million  dollars  a  month  for  the  support  of  this  un- 
fortunate people,  and  the  United  States  has  given 
seven  million,  in  all.  But  we  made  it  possible  for 
any  of  it  to  reach  those  people. 

If  anyone  now  maintains  that  the  American  flag 
Is  not  respected  abroad,  let  him  go  to  Brussels  and 
stand  in  front  of  the  United  States  legation  and  see 
the  passing  Belgians  salute  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
which  never  have  been  hauled  down  in  Belgium 
since  the  first  German  drive  into  that  desolated 
country,  and  from  sunrise  in  the  morning  until  sun- 
set at  night  the  Belgian  peasants  and  Belgian 
artisans  pass  that  house,  and  as  each  passes  takes 
his  hat  off  to  that  flag. 

And  this  comes  in  large  measure  as  the  result  of 
the  work  of  Herbert  Hoover,  the  incarnation  of  the 
spirit  of  American  desire  to  help  the  world.  Let 
us  stand  beside  the  Belgian  peasant  before  that  flag 
over  in  Brussels  and  take  heart. 


224  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Fair  Play  for  Woman 
George  William  Curtis 

The  striking  contrasts  in  the  first  paragraph  should  be  noted  and 
expressed.  Each  of  the  succeeding  paragraphs  denote  a  marked 
transition,  to  be  indicated  by  a  pause  and  change  in  each  case.  In 
the  last  paragraph,  note  the  artful  application  of  the  incident  related 
in  the  paragraph  preceding.  Vary  the  emphasis  in  the  repetitions  of 
"So  are  we."  And  bring  out  the  conclusion  in  round,  full  tones, 
with  slow  rate  and  strong  force. 

The  woman's  rights  movement  in  this  country  is 
the  simple  claim  that  the  same  opportunity  and 
privilege  that  man  has  in  society  be  extended  to  the 
woman  who  stands  by  his  side ;  that  she  must  prove 
her  power  as  he  proves  his.  Now,  when  Rosa 
Bonheur  paints  a  vigorous  and  admirable  picture 
of  Normandy  horses,  she  proves  that  she  has  a 
hundredfold  more  right  to  do  it  than  scores  of 
botchers  and  bunglers  in  color,  who  wear  coats  and 
trousers,  and  whose  right,  therefore,  nobody  ques- 
tions. When  the  Misses  Blackwell,  or  Miss  Hunt, 
or  Miss  Preston,  or  Miss  Avery,  accomplishing 
themselves  in  medicine  with  a  firm  hand  and  clear 
brain,  carry  the  balm  of  life  to  suffering  humanity,  it 
is  as  much  their  right,  as  much  their  duty,  as  it  is 
that  of  any  long-haired,  sallow,  dissipated  boy,  who 
hisses  them  as  they  go  upon  their  holy  mission. 
And  so  when  Joan  of  Arc  follows  God  and  leads 
the  army,  when  the  Maid  of  Saragossa  loads  and 
fires  the  cannon,  when  Grace  Darling  and  Ida  Lewis, 
pulling  their  boats  through  pitiless  waves,  save  fel- 
low-creatures from  drowning,  do  you  ask  me  if 
these  are  not  exceptional  women?    And  I  answer 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  225 

that  they  are.  But  Florence  Nightingale,  demand- 
ing supplies  for  sick  soldiers  in  the  Crimea,  and 
when  they  are  delayed  by  red  tape  ordering  a  file 
of  soldiers  to  break  down  the  doors  and  bring  them, 
seems  to  me  quite  as  womanly  as  the  loveliest  girl 
in  the  land,  dancing  at  the  gayest  ball,  in  a  dress  of 
which  the  embroidery  is  the  pinched  lines  of  starva- 
tion in  another  girl's  face,  and  whose  pearls  are  the 
tears  of  despair  in  her  eyes.  Jenny  Lind  enchanting 
the  heart  of  the  world,  Anna  Dickinson  pleading  for 
equal  liberty  of  her  sex,  are  doing  what  God,  by  his 
great  gifts  of  eloquence  and  song,  appointed  them 
to  do. 

This  movement  may  encounter  sneers;  but  what 
reform  has  not?  Even  Mr.  Webster  derided  the 
anti-slavery  movement  as  "'a  drum-beat  agitation." 
But  it  was  a  drum-beat  that  echoed  over  every 
mountain,  penetrated  every  valley,  and  roused  the 
hearts  of  the  nation  to  throb  in  unison.  In  one  of 
the  fierce  Western  battles  among  the  mountains. 
General  Thomas  was  watching  a  body  of  his  troops 
painfully  pushing  their  way  up  a  steep  hill  against 
a  withering  fire.  Victory  seemed  impossible ;  and 
the  General,  even  he,  "the  rock  of  Chicamauga," 
suddenly  exclaimed :  "They  can't  do  it ;  they  will 
never  reach  the  top."  His  chief  of  staff,  watching 
the  battle  with  equal  earnestness,  placing  his  hand 
on  his  commander's  arm,  said,  softly:  "Time,  time. 
General ;  give  them  time ;"  and  presently  the  moist 
eyes  of  the  brave  leader  saw  his  troops  victorious 
upon  the  summit. 

They  were  American  soldiers.    So  are  we.    They 


226  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

were  fighting  an  American  battle.  So  are  we.  They 
were  cHmbing  up  a  mountain.  So  are  we.  The 
great  heart  of  their  leader  gave  them  time,  and  they 
conquered.  The  great  heart  of  our  country  will 
give  us  time,  and  we  shall  triumph.  One  by  one  the 
States  are  falling  into  line.  With  the  extension  in 
modern  times  of  the  functions  of  government  to 
deal  with  social  problems,  the  extension  of  the 
suffrage  to  women  on  equal  terms  with  men  is  de- 
manded on  grounds  both  of  expediency  and  justice, 
and  all  the  forces  of  conservatism  and  prejudice 
shall  not  prevail  against  it, 


Eulogy  of  Washington 

Morris  Sheppard 

Although  Washington  is  a  frequent — and  proper — subject  for 
eulogy,  the  following  selection  is  somewhat  outside  of  the  usual.  It 
is  the  concluding  part  of  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, February  22,  1911.  The  sympathetic  tones  resulting 
from  strong  feeling  should  be  maintained  throughout.  The  last  two 
paragraphs  particularly  require  the  emotional  quality  of  tenderness 
combined  with  admiration. 

The  life  of  Washington  is  gratifying  and  refresh- 
ing not  only  to  every  American,  but  to  the  friends  of 
liberty  in  every  portion  of  the  globe.  Without  ex- 
perience in  directing  warlike  operations  on  an  ex- 
tended scale,  without  adequate  equipment  for  his 
troops,  without  a  supporting  government  or  treas- 
ury of  even  moderate  strength,  he  was  summoned 
from  the  farm  to  the  red  arena  of  the  battle. 
Through  incredible  difficulties,  with  a  patience  and 
a  courage  that  bordered  on  the  superhuman,  he  led  a 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  227 

small  and  undisciplined  body  of  men  taken  suddenly 
from  the  ordinary  callings  of  life  to  final  victory 
against  one  of  the  foremost  nations  of  the  world. 
In  triumph  and  in  disaster  he  was  alike  immovable 
and  serene ;  in  official  conduct  and  in  private  inter- 
course his  every  act  was  free  from  the  slightest 
taint  of  intemperance;,  immorality,  or  corruption. 
No  massacre  of  helpless  foes,  no  deeds  of  cruelty 
defiled  his  fame.  He  claimed  and  received  no  re- 
ward for  his  services  beyond  the  gratitude  of  his 
country.  The  idol  of  the  Army  and  the  people,  he 
might  easily  have  become  a  king.  Thus  he  taught 
that  the  pursuits  of  peace  are  more  sublime  than 
those  of  war,  the  functions  of  private  hfe  more 
noble  than  those  of  public  station,  the  attractions  of 
the  farm  more  permanent  and  uplifting  than  those 
of  noisy  cities. 

And  who  will  deny  that  the  hand  that  wielded  the 
sword  of  righteous  revolution,  that  forced  the 
tyrant  from  our  shores,  that  signed  the  American 
Constitution  and  guided  the  mightiest  Republic  of 
all  history  into  secure  and  glorious  being,  was  ever 
greater  than  when  it  trained  the  roses  in  the  gardens 
of  Mount  Vernon?  There  is  a  wonderful  signifi- 
ance  in  the  fact  that  Washington  perished  prac- 
tically at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  That 
century  marked  the  permanent  advent  of  liberty  in 
human  institutions;  it  witnessed  the  birth  and  rise 
of  Washington,  without  whom  this  advent  might 
have  been  delayed  indefinitely.  Thus  an  ideal  cen- 
tury and  an  ideal  man  died  almost  together.  As 
sculpture  finds  its  most  beautiful  exoression  in  the 


228  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

marble  of  Phidias,  painting  its  1(  ftiest  era  in  the 
frescoes  of  Raphael,  dramatic  poetry  its  superbest 
notes  in  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  philosophy  its 
profoundest  embodiment  in  the  inductions  of 
Aristotle,  music  its  most  perfect  utterance  in  the 
oratorios  of  Handel,  the  operas  of  Mozart,  the 
sonatas  of  Beethoven,  so  human  conduct  finds  its 
brightest  mirror  in  the,  life  and  deeds  of  Wash- 
ington. 

Of  such  world  import  is  his  name  that  it  looms 
larger  through  the  gathering  years.  To-day,  more 
than  a  century  after  his  death,  the  interest  and  the 
love  of  earth's  increasing  millions  are  centered  in 
his  memory.  Let  me  refer  here  to  the  modest  cere- 
mony of  his  burial,  an  episode  that  has  not  received 
the  attention  it  deserves.  His  funeral  was  in  keep- 
ing with  the  quiet  and  simple  majesty  that  had 
marked  his  whole  existence.  Under  the  stately 
portico  of  his  home  on  one  of  the  loveliest  eminences 
of  the  Potomac  rested  his  coffined  form  on  a  cloud- 
less December  afternoon  nearly  one  hundred  and 
twelve  years  ago. 

The  peace  of  an  indulgent  God  was  on  his  brow; 
the  afifection  of  a  liberated  people  at  his  feet.  The 
profound  impression  of  serenity  and  repose  his 
motionless  frame  imparted  gave  evidence  that  in 
death  he  had  but  added  another  victory  to  the  long 
list  of  his  renowned  achievements.  No  pomp,  no 
decoration,  no  pride  and  circumstance  of  state  em- 
blazoned these  final  hours.  From  the  countryside 
and  from  neighboring  Alexandria  poured  his  friends 
and  fellow  citizens  in  informal  array.    A  few  com- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  229 

panions  of  artillery  and  cavalry  with  a  single  band 
of  music  gave  the  only  martial  touch  to  the  proceed- 
ings. The  firing  of  solemn  minute  guns  from  a 
little  vessel  in  the  Potomac;  the  sad  procession 
across  the  wooded  lawns  and  slopes  to  the  family 
vault  upon  the  river's  edge;  the  dirge  that  quavered 
in  the  December  winds  and  sobbed  upon  the  waters ; 
the  chanting  of  the  Episcopal  orders  of  the  dead ;  the 
death  service  of  the  Masonic  ritual,  with  the  weird 
response,  "So  mote  it  be,"  from  the  brotherhood  he 
loved  and  honored ;  the  commanding  figures  of  the 
pallbearers,  all  colonels  of  the  Revolution,  his  com- 
rades in  war,  his  friends  in  peace ;  the  unusual  luster 
of  the  declining  sun  with  which  his  soul  went  down 
that  evening  to  rise  again  upon  the  shores  of  endless 
morning,  comprise  a  picture  that  will  never  vanish 
from  the  lengthening  galleries  of  immortality. 

And  so  they  laid  him  down  to  sleep  in  the  loving 
arms  of  old  Mount  Vernon,  where  the  poplar  and 
the  aspen  whisper  peace  unto  his  ashes  and  glory 
to  his  soul ;  where  the  Potomac  bears  every  day  the 
message  of  a  people's  love  and  veneration. 

Christianity  and   Life 

Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler 

The  speaker  is  not  only  President  of  the  University  of  California, 
but  also  an  occasional  preacher.  The  following  is  taken  from  a  ser- 
mon delivered  in  Oakland,  Cal.  The  sentences  have  "punch"  in 
them,  and  the  style  of  delivery  should  be  direct,  earnest,  strong  talk. 
Note  the  change  in  rate  and  general  delivery  required  for  the 
paragraph  next  to  the  last. 

It  is  the  fundamental  teaching  of  Christianity  and 
the  indubitable  teaching  of  experience  that  the  only 


230  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

way  of  making  men  and  the  world  better  is  on  the 
basis  of  the  Word  made  flesh  and  dwelhng  among 
us.  If  you  are  to  influence  men,  you  must  dwell 
among  them.  Character  must  be  put  at  work.  Exer- 
cise affords  its  only  sound  way  of  manifesting  it- 
self. It  will  do  no  good  to  set  it  on  a  cold  stone 
pedestal  to  be  viewed  from  outside  an  iron  railing. 
We  want  men,  and  men  who  will  enter  into  the  full 
current  of  the  world's  activities ;  who  will  shun  the 
dinner  tables  neither  of  Levi  the  publican  nor  of  the 
straight-laced  Pharisee,  who  will  walk  the  dusty 
ways  of  common  life,  who  can  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  the  synagogue  service,  of  the  popular  festival, 
of  the  wedding,  who  knows  the  fisherman,  the 
farmer,  and  the  doctor  of  theology,  can  sympathize 
with  the  point  of  view  of  each,  and  talk  with  the 
fisherman  in  terms  of  fishing,  with  the  peasant  in 
terms  of  sowing,  with  the  scholar  in  terms  of  his 
texts.  It  is  sympathy,  appreciation,  that  men  want 
more  than  bread.  It  is  only  through  sympathy  that 
men  are  really  reached  and  moved.  The  barriers 
which  hold  men  and  classes  of  men  apart  are  not 
so  much  differences  in  dress,  wealth,  station,  and 
birth,  as  the  consciousness  of  different  points  of 
view, — absence  of  sympathy. 

The  religious  life  will  find  its  sound  health  only  in 
freest  exercise.  Exercise  is  its  hygiene.  To  shut 
it  up  from  the  real  life  of  the  world  is  to  cultivate 
the  self-deception  of  the  ostrich  which  buries  its 
head  in  the  sand.  You  may  hear  men  say,  "Politics 
is  dirty  business,  you  had  better  keep  out  of  it." 
No  Christian  man  who  is  a  United  States  citizen  has 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  231 

ever  a  moral  right  to  announce  himself  as  "out  of 
politics."  Every  time  a  Christian  citizen  absents 
himself  from  the  caucus  or  t^e  polls  he  wrongs 
the  Christ  ideal.  Our  religion  is  something  that  will 
find  its  fullest  development  as  it  finds  its  most  active 
exercise  in  the  intensest  activities  of  human  life. 
The  places  to  learn  it  and  live  it  fullest  and  best  are 
such  as  the  mart,  the  athletic  field,  the  editorial 
room,  the  legislative  chamber. 

We  are  not  called  to  asceticism  or  exclusiveness 
or  quietism,  but  the  very  meaning  and  purpose  of 
the  incarnation  is  that  we  should  have  life  and  have 
it  in  abundance,  have  and  possess  the  world,  by  liv- 
ing in  harmony  with  the  inner  spirit  of  the  universe, 
and  in  accord  with  the  nature  of  things,  become 
leaders  and  masters  of  life  by  conforming  to  that 
law  of  service  which  makes  him  master  of  all  who 
serves  all  most  and  best.  The  life  of  isolation  is  the 
life  of  selfishness  and  leads  to  death.  The  life  that 
is  separated  from  the  life  of  God,  and  is  out  of 
touch  with  the  nature  of  things  and  refuses  to  serve 
the  purpose  of  the  whole,  and  lives  for  itself  alone, 
this  surely  is  the  life  that  is  not  worth  living. 

A  straggling  soldier  on  the  battlefield,  fugitive 
from  the  ranks,  seeking  safety  in  selfishness,  weary, 
lonely,  hopeless,  forlorn,  you  hear  over  the  uplands 
the  call  of  the  bugle  like  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Along  the  highway  the  hoofbeat  of  a  hurry- 
ing steed.  A  sight  of  the  great  leader  returning  to 
the  command.  The  tones  of  his  summoning  voice. 
A  glimpse  of  the  flag  through  the  rifts  of  the  smoke. 
And  again  you  are  in  the  ranks.     Again  you  feel 


232  IV inning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

the  touch  of  shoulders.  The  weary  foot  springs  to 
the  throb  of  martial  music.  You  are  moving  on 
with  the  great  army,  on  into  victory. 

Through  service  you  have  found  your  life  again, 
through  following  the  leader  your  life  has  found  its 
purpose  and  regained  its  birthright,  "for  all  things 
are  yours,  whether  the  world,  or  life  or  death  or 
things  present  or  things  to  come,  all  are  yours,  and 
ye  are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's." 

Eloquence  of  Daniel  O'Connell 

Wendell  Phillips 

The  following  extract  from  Phillips'  lecture  on  O'Connell  has  been 
a  great  favorite  in  declamation  contests.  This  is  due  (i)  to  the 
wide  range  of  emotions  that  the  speech  touches,  (2)  to  the  charm  of 
expression  (3)  to  the  many  changes,  allowing  great  variety  in  the 
delivery.  For  example,  the  quotation  from  Webster  should  be  given 
with  exaggerated  volume,  a  deep  orotund  tone,  and  simulated  force; 
then  the  voice  drops,  in  quoting  the  remark  of  Lowell,  into  the  purely 
colloquial,  off-hand  style.  Again,  in  delivering  the  quotation  from 
O'Connell  in  the  last  paragraph,  don't  yell,  nor  try  literally  to  send 
your  voice  "across  the  Atlantic,"  but  it  should  roll  out  in  chest 
tones — just  as  big  a  voice  as  you  have — in  large  volume  and  with  all 
the  force  you  can  command.  Then  again  change  to  the  colloquial  as 
you  remark  on  the  effect  of  O'Connell's  speech.  Now  note  the  quick 
change  from  humor  to  pathos,  and  "no  effort"  at  the  close — simply 
let  the  words  speak  themselves.  It  is  a  fine  selection  for  individual 
coaching  or  class  drill. 

I  DO  not  think  I  exaggerate  when  I  say  that  never 
since  God  made  Demosthenes  has  He  made  a  man 
better  flitted  for  a  great  work  than  He  did  Daniel 
O'Connell. 

You  may  say  that  I  am  partial  to  my  hero ;  but 
John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  who  hated  an  T-ishman 
almost  as  much  as  he  did  a  Yankee,  when  he  got 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  233 

to  London  and  heard  O'Connell,  the  old  slaveholder 
threw  up  his  hands  and  exclaimed:  "This  is  the 
man,  those  are  the  lips,  the  most  eloquent  that  speak 
English  in  my  day,"  and  I  think  he  was  right. 

Webster  could  address  a  bench  of  judges  ;  Everett 
could  charm  a  college;  Choate  could  delude  a  jury; 
Clay  could  magnetize  a  senate ;  and  Tom  Corwin 
could  hold  the  mob  in  his  right  hand,  but  no  one  of 
these  men  could  do  more  than  this  one  thing.  The 
wonder  about  O'Connell  was  that  he  could  out-talk 
Corwin,  he  could  charm  a  college  better  than 
Everett,  and  leave  Clay  himself  far  behind  in  mag- 
netizing a  senate. 

Emerson  says,  "There  is  no  true  eloquence,  unless 
there  is  a  man  behind  the  speech."  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell was  listened  to  because  all  England  and  Ireland 
knew  that  there  was  a  man  behind  the  speech, — one 
who  could  be  neither  bought,  bullied,  nor  cheated. 

These  physical  advantages  are  half  the  battle. 
You  remember  the  story  James  Russell  Lowell  tells 
of  Webster  when,  a  year  or  two  before  his  death, 
the  Whig  party  thought  of  dissolution.  Webster 
came  home  from  Washington  and  went  down  to 
Faneuil  Hall  to  protest,  and  4000  of  his  fellow 
Whigs  went  out  to  meet  him.  Drawing  himself  up 
to  his  loftiest  proportions,  his  brow  charged  with 
thunder,  before  that  sea  of  human  faces,  he  said: 
"Gentlemen,  I  am  a  Whig,  a  iSIassachusetts  Whig, 
a  Faneuil  Hall  Whig,  a  revolutionary  Whig,  a  con- 
stitutional Whig;  and  if  you  break  up  the  Whig 
party,  sir,  where  am  I  to  go?"  "And,"  says  Lowell, 
*'we  held  our  breath  thinking  where  he  could  go. 


234  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

If  he  had  been  five  feet  three,  we  should  have  said: 
'Who  cares  where  you  go  ?'  " 

So  it  was  with  O'Connell.  There  was  something 
majestic  in  his  presence  before  he  spoke,  and  he 
added  to  it  what  Webster  had  not,  and  what  Clay- 
had, — the  magnetism  and  grace  that  melts  a  million 
souls  into  his.  When  I  saw  him  he  was  sixty-five, — 
lithe  as  a  boy,  his  every  attitude  a  picture,  his  every 
gesture  grace — he  was  still  all  nature ;  nothing  but 
nature  seemed  to  be  speaking  all  over  him.  It 
would  have  been  delicious  to  have  watched  him  if 
he  had  not  spoken  a  word,  and  all  you  thought  of 
was  a  greyhound. 

Then  he  had  a  voice  that  covered  the  gamut.  I 
heard  him  once  in  Exeter  Hall  say,  "I  send  my  voice 
across  the  Atlantic,  careering  like  the  thunderstorm 
against  the  breeze,  to  tell  the  slave-holder  of  the 
Carolinas  that  God's  thunderbolts  are  hot,  and  to 
remind  the  bondman  that  the  dawn  of  his  redemp- 
tion is  already  breaking."  You  seemed  to  hear  his 
voice  reverberating  and  re-echoing  back  to  London 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains.  And  then,  with  the 
slightest  possible  Irish  brogue,  he  would  tell  a  story 
that  would  make  all  Exeter  Hall  laugh,  and  the 
next  moment  tears  in  his  voice,  like  an  old  song,  and 
five  thousand  men  wept.  And  all  the  while  no  ef- 
fort— he  seemed  only  breathing. 

"As  effortless  as  woodland  nooks 
Send   violets    up,   and   paint   them   blue." 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  235 

The  Eloquence  of  Wendell  Phillips 

George  IVflliaui  Curtis 

Wendell  Phillips  was  the  first  noteworthy  exponent  of  the  quiet, 
conversational  style  in  oratory,  as  distinguished  from  the  pompous, 
barnstorming  style.  Try  to  represent  this  style  as  you  describe  it  at 
the  opening  of  the  third  paragraph.  Then  note  the  play  of  emotions 
throughout  the  remainder  of  this  paragraph,  requiring  quick  tone- 
changes  and  offering  a  fine  opportunity  for  word-coloring.  The  last 
paragraph  is  a  vety  strong  appeal,  requiring  slower  rate,  lower  key, 
and   combined   volume  and   force. 

Wendell  PiiiLLirs  was  distinctively  the  orator, 
as  others  were  the  statesmen,  of  the  anti-slavery 
cause.  The  tremendous  controversy  inspired  uni- 
versal eloquence,  but  supreme  over  all  was  the 
eloquence  of  Phillips,  as  over  the  harmonious 
tumult  of  a  vast  orchestra  one  clear  voice,  like  a 
lark  high-poised  in  heaven,  steadily  carries  the 
melody. 

His  position  was  unique.  He  was  not  a  Whig 
or  a  Democrat,  nor  the  graceful  paneg>'rist  of  an 
undisputed  situation.  Both  parties  denounced  him ; 
he  must  recruit  a  new  party.  Public  opinion  con- 
demned him ;  he  must  win  public  opinion  to  achieve 
his  purpose.  Yet  he  did  not  pander  to  the  passion 
of  the  mob.  The  crowd  did  not  follow  him  with 
huzzas.  If  it  tried  to  drown  his  voice,  he  turned 
to  the  reporters,  and  over  the  raging  multitude 
calmly  said :  "Howl  on ;  I  speak  to  thirty  millions 
here." 

He  faced  his  audience  with  a  tranquil  mien, 
and  a  beaming  aspect  that  was  never  dimmed.  He 
spoke,  and  in  the  measured  cadence  of  his  quiet 


236  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

voice  there  was  intense  feeling,  but  no  declamation, 
no  passionate  appeal,  no  superficial  or  feigned  emo- 
tion. It  was  simply  colloqin^ — a  gentleman  con- 
versing. And  this  wonderful  power, — it  was  not  a 
thunderstorm ;  yet  somehow  and  surely  the  ear  and 
heart  were  charmed.  How  was  it  done?  Ah!  how 
did  Mozart  do  it,  how  Raphael?  The  secret  of  the 
rose's  sweetness,  of  the  bird's  ecstasy,  of  the  sunset's 
glory, — that  is  the  secret  of  genius  and  eloquence. 
What  was  heard,  what  was  seen,  was  the  form  of 
noble  manhood,  the  courteous  and  self-possessed 
tone,  the  flow  of  modulated  speech,  sparkling  with 
richness  of  illustration  with  apt  illusion,  and  happy 
anecdote  and  historic  parallel,  with  wit  and  pitiless 
invective,  with  melodious  pathos,  with  stinging 
satire  with  crackling  epigram  and  limpid  humor, 
like  the  bright  ripples  that  play  aVound  the  sure 
and  steady  prow  of  the  resistless  ship.  The  divine 
energy  of  his  conviction  utterly  possessed  him,  and 
his 

"Pure  and  eloquent  blood 
Spoke  in  his  cheek,  and  so  distinctly  wrought 
That  one  might  almost  say  his  body  thought." 

Was  it  Pericles  swaying  the  Athenian  multitude? 
Was  it  Apollo  breathing  the  music  of  the  morning 
from  his  lips  ?  It  was  an  American  patriot,  a 
modern  son  of  liberty,  with  a  soul  as  firm  and  as 
true  as  was  ever  consecrated  to  unselfish  duty, 
pleading  with  the  American  conscience  for  the 
chained  and  speechless  victims  of  American  in- 
humanity. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  237 

The  Haywood  Trial:  Plea  for  the  Defense 

Clarence  S.  Darrow 

Governor  Frank  Steunenberg,  of  Idaho,  was  killed  on  the  night  of 
December  30,  1905,  by  a  bomb  which  was  adjusted  to  explode  as  he 
opened  the  yard-gate  to  his  home.  One  Harry  Orchard  turned  State's 
evidence  and  confessed  to  having  placed  the  bomb  at  the  instigation 
of  William  D.  Haywood,  President  of  the  Mine  Workers'  Union. 
The  mvirder  grew  out  of  labor  troubles  in  the  Idaho  mining  region. 
Haywood  was  indicted  for  murder,  and  his  trial  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  country.  Eminent  counsel  were  engaged  for  both 
sides.  Following  is  an  extract  of  the  plea  to  the  jury  on  behalf  of 
the  defendant,  who  was  eventually  acquitted.  The  speech  is  naturally 
strongly  emotional.  In  the  first  paragraph  Harry  Orchard  is  de- 
nounced, and  the  rest  of  the  speech  is  a  general  plea  for  the  laboring 
interests  which  Haywood,  the  defendant,  represented. 

Gentlemen,  when  you  are  through  with  this 
trial  and  have  gone  back  to  your  homes  and  think 
of  it,  pictures  will  come  to  you  of  the  figures  in 
this  case,  and  Amongst  the  rest,  Harry  Orchard. 
Everybody  will  picture  him  according  to  how  they 
see  him.  You  have  seen  him  here.  You  have 
heard  his  story.  You  have  seen  him,  sleek  and 
fat  and  well  fed,  facing  this  jury  day  by  day,  ask- 
ing for  this  man's  blood.  Do  you  ever  want  to 
see  him  again  ?  Is  there  any  man  that  can  ever 
think  of  Harry  Orchard  except  in  loathing  and 
disgust?  And  yet,  gentlemen,  upon  the  testimony 
of  this  brute  you  are  asked  to  get  rid  of  Bill  Hay- 
wood. You  are  asked  to  take  his  life  because  down 
in  Colorado  and  up  in  Coeur  d'Alenes  he  had  been 
against  the  Mine  Owner's  Association,  and  because 
he  has  been  organizing  the  weak,  the  poor,  the 
toilers. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  not  for  William  Haywood  alone 


238  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

that  I  speak.  I  speak  for  the  poor,  for  the  weak,  for 
the  weary,  for  that  long  Hnc  of  men  who,  in  darkness 
and  despair,  have  borne  the  labors  of  the  human  race. 
The  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  you — upon  you  twelve 
men  of  Idaho  to-night.  Wherever  the  English 
language  is  spoken  or  wherever  any  tongue  makes 
known  the  thoughts  of  men  in  any  portion  of  the 
civilized  world,  men  are  talking  and  wondering 
and  dreaming  about  the  verdict  of  these  twelve  men 
that  I  see  before  me  now.  If  you  kill  him  your  act 
will  be  applauded  by  many.  If  you  should  decree 
Bill  Haywood's  death,  in  the  railroad  offices  of 
our  great  cities  men  will  applaud  your  names.  If 
you  decree  his  death,  amongst  the  spiders  of  Wall 
Street  will  go  up  paeans  of  praise  for  these  twelve 
good  men  and  true.  In  every  bank  in  the  world, 
where  men  hate  Haywood  because  he  fights  for 
the  poor  and  against  that  accursed  system  upon 
which  the  favored  live  and  grow  rich  and  fat — 
from  all  those  you  will  receive  blessings  and  un- 
stinted praise. 

But  if  your  verdict  should  be  "not  guilty"  in  this 
case,  there  are  still  those  who  will  reverently  bow 
their  heads  and  thank  these  twelve  men  for  the  life 
and  reputation  you  have  saved.  Out  on  our  broad 
prairies  where  men  toil  with  their  hands,  out  on 
the  wide  ocean  where  men  are  tossed  and  buffeted 
on  the  waves,  through  our  mills  and  factories,  and 
down  deep  under  the  earth,  thousands  of  men,  and 
of  women  and  children — men  who  labor,  men  who 
suffer,  women  and  children  weary  with  care  and 
toil — these  men  and  these  women  and  these  chil- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  239 

dren  will  kneel  to-night  and  ask  their  God  to  guide 
your  hearts — these  men  and  these  women  and  these 
little  children,  the'  poor,  the  weak,  and  the  suffering 
of  the  world,  are  stretching  out  their  helpless  hands 
to  this  jury  in  mute  appeal  for  Will  Haywood's 
life. 

The  Haywood  Trial:  Plea  for  the  Prosecution 

William  E.  Borah 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  jury  address  in  behalf  of  the  prosecution 
of  William  D.  Haywood,  charged  with  conspiracy  to  murder  as 
stated  in  the  head-note  to  the  preceding  selection.  The  changing 
emotions  and  strong  climaxes  in  this  speech  offer  a  fine  opportunity 
for  effective  declamation. 

No  doubt  that  many  times  during  this  trial  you 
have  been  moved  by  the  eloquence  of  counsel  for 
the  defense.  They  are  men  of  wondrous  powers. 
They  have  been  brought  here  because  so  rarely 
gifted  in  power  to  sway  the  minds  of  men.  But 
as  I  listened  to  the  music  of  their  voices  and  felt 
for  a  moment  the  compelling  touch  of  their  hyp- 
notic influence,  there  came  back  to  me  all  the  more 
vividly,  when  released  from  the  spell,  another 
scene — there  came  to  me  in  more  moving  tones 
other  voices.  I  remembered  again  the  awful  night 
of  December  30,  1905,  a  night  which  added  ten 
years  to  the  life  of  some  who  arc  in  this  court- 
room now.  I  felt  again  its  cold  and  merciless 
chill,  faced  the  drifting  snow  and  peered  at  last 
into  the  darkness  for  the  sacred  spot  where  last 
lay  my  dead  friend.  I  saw  men  and  women  stand- 
ing about  in  the  storm  and  darkness,  silent  in  the 


240  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

presence  of  the  dreadful  mystery,  and  Idaho  dis- 
graced and  dishonored — I  saw  murder — no,  not 
murder — a  thousand  times  worse  than  murder,  I 
saw  anarchy  displaying  its  first  bloody  triumph  to 
Idaho.  I  saw  government  by  assassination  pointing 
to  the  mangled  form  of  Frank  Steunenberg,  and 
saying  to  all — "Look,  look,  and  take  notice !  Here 
is  the  fate  of  all  who  do  their  duty  to  their  state 
and  the  Government." 

Counsel  for  the  defense  have  tried  to  make  you 
believe  that  we  would  have  professional  distinction 
at  the  cost  of  human  liberty  or  life.  There  has 
been  something  in  this  cause  to  make  a  man  forget 
all  professional  pride.  I  only  want  what  you  want 
— human  life  made  safe — assassination  put  out  of 
business.  I  only  want  what  you  want — the  gate 
which  leads  to  our  homes,  the  yard-gate  whose 
inward  swing  tells  of  the  returning  husband  and 
father,  shielded  and  guarded  by  the  courage  and 
manhood  of  Idaho  judges.  He  who  takes  life  in 
the  malice  of  the  heart  forfeits  his  right  to  live — 
for  the  sake  of  society,  for  the  sake  of  all  men 
who  love  their  fellowmen  and  want  to  live  with 
them  in  peace — he  forfeits  his  right  to  live. 

If  this  be  true  where  individual  man  slays  but 
another,  ten  thousand  times  more  true  should  it 
be  where  men  in  hatred  and  malice,  in  stealth  and 
in  secrecy,  combine,  confederate,  and  agree  to  carry 
on  and  commit  indiscriminate  murder,  where  men 
defy  law,  denounce  society,  trample  upon  all  rights, 
human  and  divine,  and  thirst  for  the  blood  of  all 
who   chance    to   thwart   or   oppose   their   criminal 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  241 

purposes.  Anarchy,  pale,  bloodless,  restless,  hungry 
demon  from  the  crypts  of  hell — lighting  for  a  foot- 
hold in  Idaho !  What  shall  we  do  ?  This  is  the 
question.  Shall  we  crush  it,  shall  we  make  it  un- 
safe for  the  disciples  of  this  creed  to  do  business 
here,  or  shall  we  palter  and  trim  and  compromise 
and  invite  to  choose  other  victims?  These  are  the 
questions  to  be  settled  by  you  and  you  alone.  In 
the  court  of  your  own  conscience  the  verdict  must 
be  worked  out,  and  I  must  leave  it  all  with  you. 

The  Apostle  of  a  New  Idea 

Herbert  S.  Bigelow 

This  is  an  extract  from  an  address  on  "Calf  Paths,"  being  one  of 
numerous  addresses  published  by  the  People's  Church  and  Town 
Meeting  Society,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  This  declamation  is  climactic 
in  construction:  the  first  two  paragraphs  contain  an  illustrative  story; 
the  point  of  the  story  is  expounded  in  the  third  paragraph;  and  the 
last  paragraph  drives  the  point  home  in  a  strong  appeal. 

At  Ephesus,  a  certain  man,  named  Demetrius, 
a  silversmith,  who  made  silver  shrines  of  Diana, 
brought  no  little  business  unto  the  craftsmen ;  whom 
he  gathered  together,  with  the  workingmen  of  like 
occupation,  and  said:  "Sirs,  ye  know  that  by  this 
business  we  have  ouT-  wealth.  And  ye  see  and  hear 
that  not  alone  at  Ephesus,  but  almost  throughout 
all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath  persuaded  and  turned  away 
such  people,  saying  that  they  are  no  gods  that  are 
made  with  hands." 

And  w^hen  they  heard  this  they  were  filled  with 
wrath  and  cried  out  saying,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the 
Ephesians !"    And  they  rushed  with  on  accord  into 


242  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

the  theater;  and  some  cried  one  thing  and  some 
another;  for  the  assembly  was  in  confusion;  and 
the  greater  part  knew  not  wherefore  they  were 
come  together. 

The  history  of  the  world  can  be  boiled  down  to 
this  story  of  Paul  and  Demetrius  and  the  silver- 
smiths and  mob  at  Ephesus.  We  have  always  the 
same  contending  forces — Paul,  the  apostle  of  a  new 
idea;  Demetrius  and  the  silversmiths,  whose  busi- 
ness is  threatened  by  that  idea ;  and  the  mob  that 
joins  in  the  hue  and  cry  against  the  apostle  without 
knowing  why.  Progress  is  the  resultant  of  these 
three  forces — special  interest  and  ignorance  on  the 
one  side,  and,  on  the  other,  the  power  of  truth. 
This  is  the  necessary  formula  for  the  right  under- 
standing of  our  own  or  any  other  age. 

Men  tell  us  of  our  natural  resources  and  the 
need  of  their  conservation,  of  the  power  that  is 
wasted  every  day,  of  the  wealth  that  is  lost  in  fire 
and  flood,  in  raging  rivers  and  plunging  falls  and 
arid  plains.  But  greater  than  all  these  resources 
combined  is  the  untapped  reservoir  of  truth,  the 
infinite  possibility,  the  incomprehensible  power  that 
is  yet  to  spring  from  the  unfettered  brain  of  man. 
They  who  loosen  the  grip  of  the  past,  they  Ivho 
wear  away  the  obstruction  of  custom  and  tradition, 
they  who  inspire  man  with  faith  in  himself,  teach 
him  the  courage  to  think  and  to  do,  they  who  help 
to  break  the  chains  of  prejudice  and  superstition, 
of  fear  and  unbelief, — they  are  the  greatest  con- 
servators of  all,  and  the  wealth  of  mind  which 
they  open  up  is  the  inexhaustible  resource  of  man. 


Winning  D eclamations-H ow  to  Speak  Them  243 

Shall  the  Monroe  Doctrine  be  Abandoned? 

John  Mellen  Thurston 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  January  28,  1896,  and  was  occasioned  by  the  Venezuela 
Boundary  Dispute,  President  Cleveland  having  sent  the  British 
government  a  message  espousing  the  claims  of  Venezuela, — a  message 
that  was  tantamount  to  war  had  not  Great  Britain  yielded.  The  last 
three  paragraphs  of  this  declamation  are  markedly  "jingoistic,"  and 
require  the  very  strongest  force,  with  ringing,  explosive  tones. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  gravely  argued  that  our 
country  has  outgrown  the  necessity  for  any  further 
enforcement  of  the  Monroe  doctrine.  It  is  urged 
that  the  United  States  has  waxed  strong  and  pow- 
erful ;  that  we  no  longer  need  fear  any  foreign 
interference  in  our  affairs ;  and  that  we  cannot  be 
affected  or  disturbed  by  South  American  controver- 
sies. It  is,  therefore,  insisted  that  we  can  now 
afford  to  let  the  other  American  Republics  look  out 
for  themselves,  and  that  we  should  stand  supinely 
by  while  foreign  powers  overawe  and  outrage  our 
weak  and  defenseless  neighbors. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  seriousness  and  gravity 
of  the  present  situation.  We  are  calling  a  halt 
upon  that  settled  policy  of  aggression  and  dominion 
which  has  characterized  the  extension  of  the  British 
Empire  from  the  hour  in  which  her  first  adventur- 
ous prow  turned  to  unknown  seas.  The  history 
of  the  English  people  is  an  almost  unbroken  series 
of  mihtary  achievements.  Her  navies  are  upon 
every  sea,  her  armies  in  every  clime.  No  nation 
can  aft'ord  lightly  to  challenge  her  purposes  or 
arouse  her  stubborn  pride.     But  does  this  furnish 


244  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

any  reason  why  Americans  should  abandon  any 
settled  policy  of  the  United  States,  or  retire  from 
any  position  which  the  honor  of  this  Republic  and 
the  welfare  of  America  require  that  we  should 
assume? 

Standing  upon  the  floor  of  the  American  Senate 
and  knowing  whereof  I  speak,  I  say  to  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  that  the  grave  issues  which  have 
been  settled  by  brave  men  upon  American  battle- 
fields can  never  be  reopened.  Sir,  there  is  no  divi- 
sion of  sentiment  in  the  United  States.  Let  but  a 
single  drumbeat  be  heard  upon  our  coast,  announc- 
ing the  approach  of  a  foreign  foe,  and  there  will 
spring  to  arms  in  North  and  South  the  grandest 
army  the  world  has  ever  known,  animated  by  a 
deathless  loyalty  to  their  country's  flag  and  march- 
ing on  to  the  mingled  and  inspiring  strains  of 
"Dixie"  and  "Yankee  Doodle." 

Sir,  believing  that  the  honor  of  my  country  is 
involved,  that  the  hour  calls  for  the  highest  ex- 
pression of  loyalty  and  patriotism,  calmly  confident 
of  the  verdict  of  posterity,  reverently  calling  God 
to  witness  the  sincerity  of  my  purpose,  I  shall  vote 
for  the  resolution  reported  by  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs.  I  shall  vote  for  it  not  as  an  affront 
to  any  other  nation,  but  to  uphold  the  dignity  of 
my  own.  I  shall  vote  for  it  in  this  time  of  pro- 
found tranquility,  convinced  that  peace  with  honor 
can  be  preserved.  But,  sir,  I  would  vote  for  it  just 
as  surely  were  we  already  standing  in  the  awful 
shadow  of  declared  war.  I  would  vote  for  it  were 
the  navies  of  all  Europe  thundering  at  our  harbors. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  245 

I  would  vote  for  it  were  the  shells  of  British 
battleships  bursting  above  the  dome  of  the  nation's 
Capitol.  I  would  vote  for  it  and  would  maintain 
it  at  all  hazards  and  at  any  cost,  with  the  last  dollar, 
with  the  last  man ;  yea  though  it  might  presage  the 
coming  of  a  mighty  conflict  that  would  call  forth 
all  the  resources  of  our  country  and  all  the  latent 
patriotism  of  our  people. 

Liberty  Under  Law 

Wendell  Phillips  Stafford 

This  selection  is  taken  from  a  speech  delivered  at  the  annual  ban- 
quet of  the  New  England  Society  of  New  York  City,  December,  1913. 
The  first  paragraph  contains  illustrative  references,  to  be  delivered 
in  a  conversational  style.  The  next  paragraph  makes  the  application. 
Each  of  the  .succeeding  paragraphs  develops  a  new  topic.  The  con- 
cluding paragraph  is  particularly  strong  both  in  thought  and  phrasing, 
and  requires  moderate  rate  and  sincere,  forcible  expression. 

I  SUPPOSE  you  have  all  read  that  most  delightful 
of  romances,  "Lorna  Doone."  If  you  have  you 
will  remember  the  satisfaction  you  felt  when  spunky 
little  Ruth  Huckaback  overturned  the  doctor's 
bleeding-basin,  and  sent  the  doctor  himself  about 
his  business  before  he  had  quite  bled  the  great 
John  Ridd  to  death.  Very  few  physicians  of  the 
present  day  but  would  admit  that  their  profession 
did  need  the  correction  of  common  sense  at  that 
period  of  its  progress.  Even  theolog>^  once  needed 
it.  I  remember  the  glee  with  which  the  famous 
Liberal  minister,  Cyrus  Bartol,  would  quote  the 
reply  of  the  Yankee  unregenerate :  "If  God  had 
made  him  to  be  damned,  he  guessed  He  had  made 
him  so  he  could  stand  it." 


246  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Now  the  law  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  On 
the  contrary,  no  profession  so  needs  to  be  corrected 
by  the  common  sense  of  daily  life,  for  its  very 
province  is  to  deal  with  the  affairs  of  life.  The 
questions  that  engage  it  are  questions  that  cannot 
be  settled  in  the  closet ;  the  decision  must  commend 
itself  to  ordinary  minds.  The  best  judges  instruct 
juries  in  their  own  language,  the  language  of  the 
farm,  the  shop,  and  the  street.  It  is  really  neces- 
sary to  do  so  to  secure  the  best  results.  And  this 
necessity  for  stating  the  law  in  plain  and  simple 
fashion  is  a  powerful  factor  in  keeping  the  law 
itself  what  it  ought  to  be,  plain  and  simple  and 
just  in  its  application. 

Above  all  things  else,  the  people  need  to  look, 
upon  the  law  as  their  law,  and  to  resent  any  dis- 
obedience of  its  mandates  as  a  defiance  of  their 
will.  Ideas  have  ruled  the  world  and  men  are 
only  puppets  in  comparison.  Nothing  could  be 
better  for  the  people  of  this  land  to-day  than  to  be 
taken  possession  of  by  the  idea  that  law,  the  ex- 
pression of  their  own  united  personality,  is  a  thing 
noble  and  inviolable,  worthy  of  every  service  and 
of  any  sacrifice,  and  that  it  must  and  shall  be  obeyed. 
There  never  was  a  great  nation  that  did  not  rever- 
ence the  law.  There  can  be  no  great  nation  without 
cohesion ;  there  can  be  no  cohesion  without  law. 

Liberty  under  law — that  is  the  noblest  motto 
"ever  molded  by  the  lips  of  man."  The  world 
has  garnered  all  its  labors,  all  its  triumphs,  all  its 
sacrifices  in  that  simple  phrase.  It  holds  all  memo- 
ries.    There  is  not  a  tear  that  has  been  shed  bv 


winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  247 

agonized  martyrs,  there  is  not  a  drop  of  blood  that 
has  flowed  from  the  sides  of  dying  heroes,  that  is 
not  treasured  in  it.  It  holds  all  hopes.  There  is 
not  a  dream  of  social  happiness  that  hovers  on  the 
horizon  of  the  human  mind  to-day  but  was  born 
of  its  inspiration  and  will  be  realized  only  through 
its  workings.  The  liberty  of  the  one — that  is  mon- 
archy. The  liberty  of  the  few — that  is  aristocracy. 
The  lawless  liberty  of  each — that  is  anarchy  and 
ends  in  the  despotism  of  the  strongest  hand.  But 
the  liberty  we  worship  is  the  liberty  of  each,  bounded 
always,  and  bounded  only,  by  the  liberty  of  all. 
It  is  liberty  under  law.  It  is  the  freedom  of  the 
race.  That  idea  by  itself,  once  let  it  take  firm 
hold  upon  the  masses,  would  be  enough  to  make  us 
a  mighty  nation,  yes,  an  unconquerable  people. 
Without  the  unifying  force  of  that  conception, 
though  we  pile  our  wealth  in  mountains,  we  shall 
be  but  a  rope  of  sand. 


The  Efficient  Optimist 
Edzvard  Earle  Pitrinton 

This  is  an  extract  from  an  article  in  the  Independmt,  N'ovember 
22,  1915.  It  has  been  said  that  effective  public  speaking  is  "thinking 
aloiid,"  and  this  truth  applies  with  peculiar  force  to  this  declamation. 
Tlie  conversational  style  should  be  used  in  delivery,  but  "the  con- 
versational raised  to   its  highest  power." 

Many  people  have  a  notion  that  an  optimist  is 
a  cheerful,  happy-go-lucky  sort  of  person,  empty  of 
cares,  burdens  or  problems,  smooth  and  sleek  and 
»vell  fed,  favored  of  gods  and  men.    Believe  it  not ! 


248  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

All  the  real  optimists  I  know  have  been  through 
battles,  worries,  woes,  privation,  that  would  tear 
the  heart  out  of  an  ordinary  man  a  hundred  times 
over.  Not  the  man  who  always  smiles  is  the  op- 
timist, but  the  man  who  can  always  turn  frowns 
and  tears  into  smiles !  The  consciousness  that 
everything  must  finally  come  right  is  not  born  in 
a  moment ;  we  must  first  consciously  do  the  thing 
we  know  to  be  right,  thousands  of  times,  and  must 
watch  ourselves  gain  a  step  of  ground  each  time, 
before  we  can  form  the  habit  of  trusting  the  right- 
ness  of  the  cosmic  plan.  The  days  of  blind  faith 
are  over,  the  days  of  intelligent  action  are  here. 
An  efficient  optimist  hopes  entirely  without  reason, 
but  works  entirely  with  it. 

How  does  optimism  aid  efficiency?  By  renewing, 
refreshing,  sustaining  and  strengthening  our  bodily 
physique,  mental  constitution,  moral  character  and 
psychic  reserve.  The  path  to  any  great  success  is 
lined  with  many  small  failures ;  and  the  assurance 
of  ultimate  success  lies  in  the  perception  to  see  and 
the  power  to  use  the  lessons  from  these  failures 
and  to  go  higher  because  of  them.  This  perception 
and  this  power  come  only  to  the  optimist. 

The  world  was  against  Newton  when  he  pro- 
claimed the  law  of  gravitation;  against  Harvey 
Vvhen  he  discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood; 
against  Wagner  when  he  wrote  his  epics  of  har- 
mony ;  against  Franklin  when  he  searched  the  skies 
for  the  secret  of  electricity;  against  Darwin  when 
he  announced  the  law  of  evolution ;  against  Bell 
when   he    made    the    first   telephone;    against    the 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  249 

Wrights  when  they  labored  on  the  airship ;  against 
Burbank  when  he  dared  to  invent  new  species  of 
plants  and  flowers ;  against  Froebel  when  he  taught 
how  to  understand  children  better.  These  men  ail 
had  to  create  in  themselves  an  optimism  strong 
enough  to  carry  them  through  and  beyond  the 
world's  ignorance,  blindness,  inertness,  fear,  hate, 
opposition.  And  the  law  still  holds.  The  greater 
your  work  and  the  finer  your  message,  the  more 
you  will  be  antagonized.  Your  only  safeguard  is 
in  scientific  optimism. 

What  does  scientific  optimism  do  for  the  human 
machine?  It  promotes  good  digestion  and  a  corre- 
sponding sense  of  buoyancy  and  cheer;  it  straightens 
the  backbone,  physical  and  moral ;  it  assures  deep 
breathing  and  the  liberation  of  more  energy;  it 
favors  sound  sleep  and  repose  at  all  times ;  it  lends 
force,  clearness  and  alertness  to  the  brain  because 
of  a  purer  blood  stream  and  a  surer  life  purpose ; 
it  empowers  the  will  by  enlargement  and  establish- 
ment of  one's  faith;  it  steadies  the  nerves  for  a 
calm,  firm  handling  of  the  crises,  problems  and 
duties  of  everyday  life;  it  provides  the  key  to  a 
storehouse  of  moral  dynamics,  available  only  when 
we  see,  think,  believe  and  hope  for  the  best ;  it 
expands  our  influence  and  makes  hosts  of  friends ; 
it  opens  communications  with  higher,  spiritual 
avenues  of  original  conception  and  power,  by  means 
of  which  the  ordinary  man  becomes  great,  and 
every  man  a  conscious  master  of  himself,  his  work, 
and  his  destiny. 


250  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

A  Message  to  Garcia 

Elbert  Hubbard 

The  author  of  this  selection,  who  went  down  on  the  ill-fated 
Lusitania,  was  discussing  the  incident  related  below,  so  the  story 
goes,  at  the  supper  table  one  night  with  his  family.  He  was  so  im- 
pressed with  the  incident  and  its  lesson  that  he  at  once  retired  to 
his  study  and  wrote  the  article  from  which  the  following  is  an  ex- 
tract. It  was  first  published  in  the  Philistine  for  March,  1899.  The 
theme  of  the  article,  re-enforced  by  the  "punch"  of  the  author's 
English,  struck  a  responsive  chord  on  the  part  of  the  public.  Mil- 
lions of  copies  of  the  article  were  later  printed  and  distributed, 
and  it  was  translated  into  several  foreign  languages.  It  has  also  had 
a  record-breaking  run  as  a  declamation,  being  a  favorite  in  prize 
contests.  The  delivery,  though  forceful  on  the  whole,  is  relieved  by 
many  changes;  there  is  opportunity  for  great  variety,  especially  in 
the  first  five  paragraphs.  The  first  three  are  introductory  and  should 
be  given  in  a  conversational  style,  the  quotation  in  even  a  colloquial 
style.  Bear  in  mind  that  the  theme  is  the  thing  to  be  emphasized 
throughout;  that  is:  honor  to  the  man  who  arrives,  who  does  things, 
and   who  acts  on  his   own   initiative. 

When  war  broke  out  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States,  it  was  very  necessary  to  communi- 
cate quickly  with  the  leader  of  the  Insurgents. 
Garcia  was  somewhere  in  the  mountain  fastnesses 
of  Cuba — no  one  knew  where.  No  mail  nor  tele- 
graph message  could  reach  him.  The  President 
must  secure  his  cooperation,  and  quickly. 

What  to  do  ? 

Some  one  said  to  the  President,  "There's  a  fellow 
by  the  name  of  Rowan  will  find  Garcia  for  you,  if 
anybody  can." 

Rowan  was  sent  for  and  given  a  letter  to  be 
delivered  to  Garcia.  How  "the  fellow  by  the  name 
of  Rowan"  took  the  letter,  sealed  it  up  in  an  oil- 
skin pouch,  strapped  it  over  his  heart,  in  four  days 
landed  by  night  off  the  coast  of  Cuba  from  an  open 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  251 

boat,  disappeared  into  the  jungle,  and  in  three  weeks 
came  out  on  the  other  side  of  the  island,  having 
traversed  a  hostile  country  on  foot,  and  delivered 
his  letter  to  Garcia, — are  things  I  have  no  special 
desire  now  to  tell  in  detail. 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  is  this:  McKinley  gave 
Rowan  a  letter  to  be  delivered  to  Garcia ;  Rowan 
took  the  letter  and  did  not  ask,  "Where  is  he  at?" 
By  the  Eternal !  there  is  a  man  whose  form  should 
be  cast  in  deathless  bronze  and  that  statue  placed 
in  every  college  of  the  land.  It  is  not  book-learning 
young  men  need,  not  instruction  about  this  and  that, 
but  a  stiffening  of  the  vertebrae  which  will  cause 
them  to  be  loyal  to  a  trust,  to  act  promptly,  concen- 
trate their  energies:  do  the  thing — "Carry  a  mes- 
sage to  Garcia !" 

General  Garcia  is  dead  now,  but  there  are  other 
Garcias.  No  man,  who  has  endeavored  to  carry  out 
an  enterprise  where  many  hands  were  needed,  but 
has  been  well-nigh  appalled  at  times  by  the  imbecil- 
ity of  the  average  man — the  inability  or  unwilling- 
ness to  concentrate  on  a  thing  and  do  it.  And  this 
incapacity  for  independent  action,  this  moral  stupid- 
ity, this  infirmity  of  the  will,  this  unwillingness  to 
cheerfully  catch  hold  and  lift,  are  things  that  put 
pure  Socialism  so  far  into  the  future.  If  men  will 
not  act  for  themselves,  what  will  they  do  when  the 
benefit  of  their  effort  is  for  all  ? 

My  heart  goes  out  to  the  man  who  does  his  work 
when  the  "boss"  is  away,  as  well  as  when  he  is  at 
home.  And  the  man  who,  when  given  a  letter  for 
Garcia,   quietly  takes  the  missive,  without  asking 


252  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

any  idiotic  questions,  and  with  no  lurking  intention 
of  chuci<ing  it  into  the  nearest  sewer,  or  of  doing 
aught  else  but  deliver  it,  never  gets  "laid  off,"  nor 
has  to  go  on  a  strike  for  higher  wages.  Civilization 
is  one  long,  anxious  search  for  just  such  individuals. 
Anything  such  a  man  asks  shall  be  granted ;  his 
kind  is  so  rare  that  no  employer  can  afford  to  let 
him  go.  He  is  wanted  in  every  city,  town,  and  vil- 
lage— in  every  office,  shop,  store,  and  factory.  The 
world  cries  out  for  such :  he  is  needed,  and  needed 
badly — the  man  who  can  carry  a  message  to  Garcia. 


The  National  Flag 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 

This  declamation,  which  is  an  adaptation  of  a  speech  by  Beecher, 
presents  vivid  pictures  and  varied  emotions,  to  be  voiced  in  dynamic, 
ringing  tones.  By  gradual  and  natural  steps  lead  up  to  the  strong 
climax  in  the  paragraph  next  to  the  last. 

I  HAVE  seen  the  glories  of  art  and  architecture, 
and  mountain  and  river ;  I  have  seen  the  sunset  on 
Jungfrau,  and  the  full  moon  rise  over  Mount  Blanc; 
but  the  fairest  vision  on  which  these  eyes  ever 
looked  was  the  flag  of  my  country  in  a  foreign 
land.  Beautiful  as  a  flower  to  those  who  love  it, 
terrible  as  a  meteor  to  those  who  hate  it,  it  is  the 
symbol  of  the  power  and  glory,  and  the  honor  of 
one  hundred  million  Americans. 

A  thoughtful  mind,  when  it  sees  a  nation's  flag, 
sees  not  the  flag,  but  the  nation  itself.  When  the 
French  tricolor  rolls  out  to  the  wind,  we  see  France. 
When  the  new-found  Italian  flag  is  unfurled,  we  see 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  253 

unified  Italy.  When  the  united  crosses  of  St. 
Andrew  and  St.  George,  on  a  fiery  ground,  set  forth 
the  banner  of  old  England,  we  see  not  the  cloth 
merely;  there  rises  up  before  the  mind  the  idea  of 
that  great  monarchy. 

If  one  asks  me  the  meaning  of  our  flag,  I  say  to 
him:  It  means  just  what  Concord  and  Lexington 
meant,  what  Bunker  Hill  meant.  It  means  the  whole 
glorious  Revolutionary  war.  It  means  all  that  the 
Constitution  of  our  people,  organizing  for  justice, 
for  hberty  and  for  happiness,  meant.  Its  stripes  of 
alternate  red  and  white  proclaim  the  original  union 
of  thirteen  states  to  maintain  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Its  stars,  white  on  a  field  of  blue, 
proclaim  that  union  of  states  constituting  our  na- 
tional constellation.  The  two  together  signify 
union,  past  and  present.  The  very  colors  have  a 
language  which  was  officially  recognized  by  our 
fathers.  White  is  for  purity ;  red,  for  valor ;  blue, 
for  justice ;  and  all  together — bunting,  stripes,  stars 
and  colors,  blazing  in  the  sky — make  the  flag  of  our 
country,  to  be  cherished  by  all  our  hearts,  to  be  up- 
held by  all  our  hands. 

Under  this  banner  rode  Washington  and  his 
armies.  Before  it  Burgoyne  laid  down  his  arms. 
It  waved  on  the  highlands  at  West  Point.  It 
streamed  in  light  over  the  soldiers'  head  at  Valley 
Forge  and  at  Morristown.  It  crossed  the  waters 
rolling  with  ice  at  Trenton,  and  when  its  stars 
gleamed  in  the  cold  morning  with  victory,  a  new 
day  of  hope  dawned  on  the  despondency  of  this 
nation. 


254  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

I  like  to  think  of  our  soldiers  and  sailors  as  de- 
fenders of  the  flag,  and  I  like  to  think  of  the  flag 
as  our  defender  from  foes  within  or  foes  without. 
During  the  Cuban  revolution  of  '"jt,,  an  American 
citizen  was  imprisoned,  and  by  a  Spanish  court- 
martial  sentenced  to  be  shot  as  a  spy.  The  Amer- 
ican consul  at  Havana  demanded  a  suspension  of  the 
sentence  pending  an  investigation,  which  was  per- 
emptorily refused,  and  preparations  for  the  execu- 
tion of  the  court-martial's  finding  were  hurriedly 
made.  The  prisoner  was  led  forth,  and  a  company 
of  Spanish  soldiers  stood  ready,  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand, to  execute  the  death  warrant.  At  this  critical 
moment  appeared  the  American  consul  and,  winding 
about  the  body  of  the  prisoner  the  stars  and  stripes, 
turned  to  the  Spanish  officer  and  said :  "Now  shoot 
if  you  dare !"  The  silence  of  the  Spanish  guns  was 
the  only  reply. 

And  so  in  any  foreign  country,  if  our  flag  in  very 
truth  be  the  emblem  of  national  honor  and  inter- 
national fair-dealing,  then  may  the  American  citizen 
rest  secure  beneath  its  protecting  folds  in  conscious 
assurance  that  "thrice  is  he  armed  who  hath  his 
quarrel  just." 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  255 

Texas— Undivided  and  Indivisible 
Joseph  W.  Bailey 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  United  States 
Senate  in  January,  1906.  The  principal  transitions  are  indicated 
by  the  paragraphing,  but  on  the  whole  this  speech  has  the  well- 
rounded  periods  of  the  oratorical  style,  and  should  be  delivered  in 
moderate  rate,  with  voluminous  and  forceful  tones. 

Throughout  this  discussion  we  have  heard  many 
and  varied  comments  upon  the  magnitude  of  Texas. 
Some  senators  have  expressed  a  friendly  solicitude 
that  we  would  some  day  avail  ourselves  of  the 
privilege  accorded  us  by  the  resolutions  under 
which  we  entered  the  Union,  and  divide  our  state 
into  five  states. 

Mr.  President,  if  Texas  had  contained  a  popula- 
tion in  I845  sufficient  to  have  justified  her  admission 
as  five  states,  it  is  my  opinion  that  she  would  have 
been  admitted.  I  will  even  go  further  than  that; 
I  will  say  that  if  Texas  were  now  five  states,  there 
would  not  be  five  men  in  either  state  who  would 
seriously  propose  the  consolidation  into  one.  But, 
sir,  Texas  is  not  divided  now,  and  under  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  she  will  not  be  divided  until  the  end 
of  time.  Her  position  is  exceptional,  and  excites  in 
the  minds  of  all  her  citizens  a  just  and  natural  pride. 
She  is  now  the  greatest  of  all  the  states  in  area,  and 
certain  to  become  the  greatest  of  all  in  population, 
wealth,  and  influence.  With  such  a  primacy  assured 
her,  she  could  not  be  expected  to  surrender  it,  even 
to  obtain  increased  representation  in  this  body. 

But,  Mr.  President,  while  from  her  proud  emi- 


256  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

nence  to-day  Texas  looks  upon  a  future  as  bright 
with  promise  as  ever  beckoned  a  people  to  follow 
where  fate  and  fortune  lead,  it  is  not  so  much  the 
promise  of  the  future  as  it  is  the  memory  of  the 
glorious  past  which  appeals  to  her  against  division. 
She  could  partition  her  fertile  valleys  and  broad 
prairies,  she  could  apportion  her  thriving  towns  and 
growing  cities,  she  could  distribute  her  splendid 
population  and  wonderful  resources,  but  she  could 
not  divide  the  fadeless  glory  of  those  days  that  are 
past  and  gone.  To  which  of  her  daughters,  sir, 
could  she  assign,  without  irreparable  injustice  to  all 
the  others,  the  priceless  inheritance  of  the  Alamo, 
Goliad,  and  San  Jacinto?  To  which  could  she  be- 
queath the  name  of  Houston,  Austin,  Fannin,  Bowie, 
and  Crockett  ?  Sir,  the  fame  of  these  men,  and  their 
less  illustrious  but  not  less  worthy  comrades,  cannot 
be  severed. 

The  world  has  never  seen  a  sublimer  courage  or 
a  more  unselfish  patriotism  than  that  which  illumi- 
nates almost  every  page  in  the  early  history  of  Texas. 
Students  may  know  more  about  other  battlefields, 
but  none  is  consecrated  with  the  blood  of  braver 
men  than  those  who  fell  at  Goliad.  Historians  may 
not  record  it  as  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the 
world,  but  the  victory  of  the  Texans  at  San  Jacinto 
is  destined  to  exert  a  greater  influence  upon  the  hap- 
piness of  the  human  race  than  all  the  conflicts  that 
established  or  subverted  the  petty  kingdoms  of  the 
ancient  world.  Poets  have  not  yet  immortalized  it 
with  their  enduring  verse,  but  the  Alamo  is  more 
resplendent  with  her  heroic  sacrifice  than  was  Ther- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  257 

mopylse  itself,  because  while  "Thermopylae  had  its 
messenger  of  defeat,  the  Alamo  had  none." 

Mr.  President,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  borrow 
Webster's  well-known  apostrophe  to  Liberty  and 
Union,  I  would  say  of  Texas :  She  is  one  and  in- 
separable, now  and  forever. 

Books 

E.  P.  Whipple 

The  wide  sweep  of  thought  and  the  appeal  to  high  ideals  by  means 
of  concrete  illustrations,  render  this  selection  a  very  effective  one  for 
declamation. 

A-S  the  lamp  of  Learning  began  to  throw  gleams 
of  light  through  the  darkness  of  mediaeval  times, 
there  was  to  be  a  stern  death-grapple  between  the 
heavy  arm  and  the  ethereal  thought ;  betw^ee^  that 
which  was  and  that  which  ought  to  be ;  for  there 
was  a  great  spirit  abroad,  which  dungeons  could 
not  confine  nor  oceans  check.  It  was  a  spirit  whose 
path  lay  through  the  great  region  of  ideas;  whose 
dominion  was  over  the  mind. 

From  the  hour  of  the  invention  of  printing,  books, 
and  not  kings,  were  to  rule  the  world.  Weapons 
forged  in  the  mind,  keen-edged,  and  brighter  than 
a  sunbeam,  were  to  supplant  the  sword  and  battle- 
axe.  Books !  lighthouses  built  on  the  sea  of  time ! 
Books !  by  whose  sorcery  the  whole  pageantry  of 
the  world's  history  moves  in  solemn  procession  be- 
fore our  eyes.  From  their  pages  great  souls  look 
down  in  all  their  grandeur,  undimmed  by  the  faults 
and  follies  of  earthly  existence,  consecrated  by  time. 


258  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

In  that  world  "no  divinity  hedges  a  king ;"  no  acci- 
dent of  rank  ennobles  a  dunce  or  shields  a  knave. 
Reason  is  confined  within  none  of  the  limits  which 
trammel  it  in  life.  There  things  are  called  by  their 
right  names.  Our  lips  give  not  the  lie  to  our  hearts. 
We  bend  the  knee  only  to  the  great  and  good;  we 
despise  only  the  despicable;  honor  only  the  honor- 
able. 

In  the  world  of  books  we  can  select  companions 
from  among  the  most  richly  gifted  of  the  sons  of 
God.  When  everything  else  fails;  when  the  world 
of  forms  and  shows  appears  a  two-edged  lie,  which 
seems  but  is  not ;  when  all  our  earth-clinging  hopes 
melt  into  nothingness,  we  are  still  not  without 
friends.  In  their  immortal  countenances  we  see  no 
change.  They  dignify  low  fortune  and  humble  life 
with  their  kingly  presence,  and  people  solitude  with 
shapes  more  glorious  than  ever  glistened  in  court 
or  palace. 

Well  might  Milton  exclaim  in  that  Impassioned 
speech  for  the  "Liberty  of  Unlicensed  Printing" ; 
"Who  kills  a  man  kills  a  reasoning  creature — God's 
image ;  but  who  destroys  a  good  book  kills  reason 
itself."  Many  a  man  lives  a  burden  upon  the  earth ; 
but  a  good  book  is  the  precious  lifeblood  of  a  mas- 
ter spirit  embalmed  and  treasured  up  on  purpose  for 
a  life  beyond  life. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  259 

The  Death  of  Garfield 

James  G.  Blaine 

This  is  an  extract  from  an  oration  delivered  before  both  houses  of 
Congress  on  February  26,  1882,  Mr.  ISlaine  having  been  Secretary 
of  State  under  President  Garfield.  The  oration  has  established  itself 
as  an  American  classic.  Garfield  was  assassinated  at  the  station  of 
the  Pennsylvania  railway,  in  Washington,  as  he  was  boarding  a 
train  for  his  summer  vacation.  In  order  to  appreciate  fully  the 
allusions  in  the  third  paragraph,  it  should  be  remembered  that  after 
Garfield  realized  he  could  not  recover,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
taken  to  the  seaside.  For  this  purpose  a  specially  constructed  car 
was  provided,  and  he  was  conveyed  to  a  summer  home  on  the  New 
Jersey  coast,  where  the  end  finally  came.  Slow  rate,  the  tender  tones 
of  pathos,  due  pauses,  especially  at  the  close,  are  essential  for  effec- 
tive delivery. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2,  1881,  Presi- 
dent Garfield  was  a  contented  and  happy  man — not 
in  an  ordinary  degree,  but  joyfully,  almost  boyishly 
happy.  And  surely,  if  happiness  can  ever  come 
from  the  honors  or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on  that 
quiet  July  morning  Garfield  may  well  have  been  a 
happy  man.  No  foreboding  of  evil  haunted  him ; 
no  premonition  of  danger  clouded  his  sky.  One 
moment  he  stood  erect,  strong,  confident  in  the  years 
stretching  peacefully  out  before  him;  the  next  day 
he  lay  wounded,  bleeding,  helpless,  doomed  to  wxary 
weeks  of  torture,  to  silence,  and  the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death. 
For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  wantonness  and 
wickedness,  by  the  red  hand  of  murder,  he  was 
thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this  world's  interest.-., 
from  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  victories,  into  the 
visible  presence  of  death — and  he  did  not  quail. 
Not   alone   for   the  one   short  moment   in  which. 


26o  IVirming  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

stunned  and  dazed,  he  could  give  up  life,  hardly 
aware  of  its  relinquishment,  but  through  days  of 
deadly  languor,  through  weeks  of  agony  that  was 
not  less  agony  because  silently  borne,  with  clear 
sight  and  calm  courage,  he  looked  into  his  open 
grave. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving  for  the 
sea  returned.  The  stately  mansion  of  power  had 
become  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and 
he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from 
its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  f  rqm  its  homelessness  and 
its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of  a  great 
people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed-for  heal- 
ing of  the  sea,  to  live  or  to  die,  as  God  should  will, 
within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows,  within  sound  of 
its  manifold  voices.  With  wan,  fevered  face  tenderly 
lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze,  he  looked  out  wistfully 
upon  the  ocean's  changing  wonders :  on  its  far  sails, 
whitening  in  the  morning  light ;  on  its  restless  waves, 
rolling  shoreward  to  break  and  die  beneath  the 
noonday  sun ;  on  the  red  clouds  of  evening,  arching 
low  to  the  horizon ;  on  the  serene  and  shining  path- 
way of  the  stars. 

Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a  mystic 
meaning  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting  soul  may 
know.  Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the 
receding  world  he  heard  the  great  waves  breaking 
on  a  farther  shore,  and  felt  already  upon  his  wasted 
brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning, 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  261 

The  Man  and  the  Soil 

John  M.  Thomas 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  by  the  President  of  Middlebury 
College  (Vermont)  delivered  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the  New 
England  Society  of  New  York  City,  December,  1910.  The  thought 
and  its  expression,  if  delivered  with  earnestness  and  feeling,  will 
appeal  to  any  audience. 

It  is  said  that  the  New  England  of  the  present  is 
far  to  the  westward ;  that  the  six  Yankee  common- 
wealths have  done  their  work,  and  are  no  longer 
needed  to  furnish  New  England  ideas  to  the  nation. 
It  has  been  said,  I  believe,  on  a  similar  occasion 
here,  that  the  prairies  have  caught  the  lessons  of 
the  Pilgrims,  and  henceforth  they  can  muster  the 
men  whom'  Liberty  needs  for  her  soldiery.  But  I 
have  a  notion  that  there  is  a  relation  between  an 
idea  and  the  soil  which  nourished  it ;  that  if  you 
would  preserve  for  the  benefit  of  the  future  any 
political  creed,  or  any  cluster  of  religious  ideals,  or 
any  particular  type  of  manhood,  you  must  preserve 
them  on  the  soil  where  they  had  their  birth;  that 
political  and  spiritual  convictions  are  not  the  same 
when  they  are  transplanted  to  another  region. 

You  may  remind  me  that  the  Scotsman  is  ever 
Scotch,  wherever  in  the  world  you  find  him;  un- 
comfortable if  he  is  orthodox,  and  reasonably  dis- 
satisfied with  himself  if  he  is  not.  But  that  is  be- 
cause he  can  ever  sing 

"My  heart's  in  the  highlands, 
My  heart  is  not  here." 

He  knows  that  the  heather  is  over  the  sea,  and  he 
warms  the  smile  you   feel  but  do  not  otherwise 


262  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

perceive  upon  the  purple  glow  across  the  far  leagues, 
and  nourishes  his  canny  dourness  on  the  shaggy 
rocks  that  fade  never  from  his  dreams.  It  is  be- 
cause Scotland  is  still  Scotch,  persistent  in  the 
homeland  in  its  national  traits,  that  the  sweet  accent 
lingers  in  every  Scottish  home  beside  the  seven  seas. 

Up  in  the  Northland,  in  rural  New  England,  is 
the  fireside  of  the  American  home.  There  Ameri- 
can manhood  came  first  to  self-consciousness.  There 
the  nation  learned  the  resolute  independence  and 
self-reliance,  the  habit  of  reasoning  about  things, 
the  knack  of  doing  things  in  the  easiest  way,  the 
love  of  justice  for  others  as  well  as  for  ourselves, 
which  stand  before  the  world  as  American  traits. 

It  is  a  sad  day  for  any  man  when  the  old  home- 
stead no  longer  shelters  the  piety  and  worth  that 
gave  it  standing  in  the  neighborhood.  The  gods 
have  ever  been  attached  to  localities.  Spiritual 
treasures  are  not  quite  the  same  when  they  are 
transplanted  to  another  territory.  Kansas  may  be 
God's  country  in  good  time,  but  never  in  all  the 
millenniums  will  she  be  Massachusetts.  Every  faith 
treasures  beyond  price  the  possession  of  its  shrine, 
and  it  is  no  mistaken  instinct.  Therefore,  it  were 
a  sad  day  for  America  when  rural  New  England, 
the  shrine  of  American  worth,  loses  the  manhood 
which  it  "has  wrought  out  as  the  symbol  of  American 
character.  The  nation  needs  the  men  who  are  to 
go  forth  from  those  valleys  still.  She  needs  yet 
more  the  spirit  that  will  abide  there  as  long  as  the 
smoke  curls  upward  of  an  autumn  morning  from 
the  little  white  houses  on  the  hillside. 


Winning  Dedamations-How  to  Speak  Thetn  263 

There  are  those  who  love  those  hills  and  valleys 
still,  and  are  glad  to  make  their  homes  among  them. 
We  feel  weighted  with  a  trust  in  behalf  of  the 
nation  for  the  preservation  on  the  New  England 
soil  of  all  that  is  best  in  the  manhood  New  England 
has  reared. 

We  are  watchers  of  a  beacon  whose  light  must  never  die ; 
We  are  guardians  of  an  altar  'neath  the  silence  of  the  sky ; 
The  rocks  yield  founts  of  courage,  struck  forth  as  by  Thy 

rod; 
For  the  strength  of  the  hills  we  bless  Thee,  O  God,  our 

Father's  God. 

The  Pioneers 

John  IV.  Springer 

To  those  who  know  the  ranch  or  plains  country,  or  who  have  in 
any  way  come  in  contact  with  America's  Great  Out-of-Doors,  this 
selection,  which  requires  unfeigned  enthusiasm  and  sustained  force 
in  delivery,  will  make  a  strong  appeal. 

How  we  love  these  old  weatherbeaten  frontier 
fathers.  How  we  reverence  them  for  the  early 
struggles,  the  hardships  and  the  privations  they  ren- 
dered that  you  and  I  might  occupy  a  land  second  to 
no  section  in  this  magnificent  country  we  enjoy. 
The  old  days  of  the  trail !  How  ,we  look  back  to 
them  as  halcyon  days  of  the  cattle  business.  The 
old  boys,  the  old  chuck  wagon,  the  old  ponies,  with 
their  wondrous  hieroglyphics  burned  all  over  them ; 
the  songs  of  the  cowboys  and  their  marvelous 
stories  around  the  camp  fires,  from  the  gulf  far 
away  and  the  prairies  over  the  hills,  along  the 
mountain   fastnesses,  ever  on  north   to  the   ranch 


264  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

limits  of  Montana,  this  charming  stretch  of  plains, 
rivers,  hills  and  valleys  was  the  happy  abode  of  the 
pioneer  cowman.  Can  you  reckon  to-day  what  we 
owe  these  pioneers?  Not  only  to  these,  but  to  the 
old  mothers,  who  left  the  States  and  the  old  homes 
and  those  they  loved,  and  moved  into  the  little  old 
sod  houses  and  brightened  up  the  dug-outs  and  the 
more  pretentious  log  houses  up  and  down  the  land 
occupied  by  the  flocks  and  herds.  Their  stories 
live  in  memory  like  a  benediction. 

To-day  it  is  appropriate  that  we  sweep  in  memory 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  valley  of  the 
Missouri,  the  plains  of  the  Canadian,  and  the  Pecos, 
and  the  Rio  Grande  up  and  over  the  hills  of  the 
Rockies,  and  on  to  the  Little  Missouri  of  the 
Dakotas,  away  and  across  the  valley  of  Salt  Lake 
to  the  rivers  of  Oregon  and  the  sunlit  fields  of  far- 
away California.  What  Elysian  fields!  In  the 
dreamless  solitude  of  the  camp  fire  you  have 
watched  the  flickering  embers  blaze  up  and  then  die 
away,  and  with  tired  limbs  but  happy  heart  you 
have  drifted  down  the  tides  of  sleep  while  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  stars  stood  guard  over 
pour  peaceful  slumbers. 

Such  scenes  as  I  have  pictured  mark  the  cow 
camps  of  the  mighty  West.  There,  where  you  find 
the  big-hearted  men,  they  draw  their  fountain  of 
charity  from  their  close  contact  with  Nature  and 
Nature's  God.  What  a  limitless  field  for  fiction, 
for  the  stories  of  the  brave,  the  dauntless  pioneers 
who  traversed  the  valley  and  hillsides  of  this  great 
stretch  of  producing  territory. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  265 

The  American  pioneer!  The  stockman  and  the 
stockmen  of  days  agone  blazed  the  way  for  our 
princely  heritage.  Their  sufferings  find  their  antith- 
esis in  our  present  happiness.  Their  deprivations, 
by  the  evolution  of  an  inexorable  fate,  mete  out 
plenty  and  prosperity  to  us  who  have  succeeded 
them.  All  hail  the  home-builders  of  the  American 
Union ! 

Southern  Types 

Thomas  Watt  Gregory 

This  is  taken  from  a  speech  that  Mr.  Gregory,  U.  S.  Attorney- 
General,  delivered  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the  Southern  Society  of 
New  York  City,  February,  1915.  Tell  the  story  contained  in  the 
first  paragraph  in  a  natural  conversational  manner,  not  failing  to 
bring  out  effectively  the  climax  at  the  end.  There  follows  a  transi- 
tional paragraph,  applying  the  point  of  the  story  and  leading  up  to 
the  serious  note  struck  in  the  paragraph  following,  which  should  be 
delivered  with  sustained  earnestness  and  force.  The  appeal  in  the 
last  paragraph  should  be  given  with  real  feeling;  the  touch  of  senti- 
ment and  the  word-pictures  will  require  slow  rate  and  time-emphasis 
for  the  most  effective  delivery. 

Those  of  you  who  have  not  been  away  from  the 
South  so  long  that  you  have  forgotten  everything 
of  any  real  value  you  ever  knew  will  recall  the  fact 
that  the  habitat  or  range  of  the  negro  is  usually 
within  a  circle  with  a  diameter  of  not  over  ten  miles. 
Not  infrequently  a  negro  is  born  on  a  plantation, 
lives  his  three  score  years  and  ten,  and  dies  without 
having  been  twenty-five  miles  from  the  place  of  his 
birth.  I  once  knew  a  negro  who  left  his  range  for 
good  and  sufficient  reasons,  and  about  two  car- 
lengths  ahead  of  the  sheriff.  Speed  and  luck  being 
on  his  side,  he  loped  off  about  fifty  miles  and  estab- 


266  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

lished  a  new  habitat  in  a  strange  community.  There 
he  held  himself  out  as  a  preacher,  built  up  a  large 
congregation,  and  was  becoming  quite  prosperous. 
One  Sunday  night  on  mounting  the  pulpit  he  was 
horrified  to  observe  on  the  front  bench  a  negro  from 
his  own  range  who  knew  every  detail  of  his  past 
career.  He  was  not  quite  sure  whether  the  strange 
negro  recognized  him  or  not.  He  watched  him 
carefully  during  the  preliminary  hymns  and  an- 
nouncements without  getting  any  light  on  the  sub- 
ject. Finally,  he  got  up  to  begin  his  sermon  and 
said:  "My  bredren,  it  had  been  my  purpose  to-night 
to  preach  to  you  on  de  pure  in  heart  and  how  dey 
shall  rest  in  Abraham's  bosom,  but  since  I  got  in  de 
pulpit  de  Holy  Spirit  have  whispered  to  me  and 
said:  'Nigger,  don't  you  preach  on  dat  text,  you 
take  anoder  text,'  and  so  I  is  going  to  preach  to  you 
de  sixteenth  verse  of  de  fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah  (and 
at  this  point  he  fixed  his  eagle  eye  on  the  stray 
negro)  which  reads  as  follows:  'If  you  think  you 
know  me,  say  nothing,  and  I'll  see  you  later.' " 

There  are  too  many  strays  present  to-night  from 
my  former  ranges  for  me  to  get  my  eye  on  all  of 
them  at  the  same  time,  but  I  trust  that  they  will 
observe  the  spirit  of  the  text,  and  I  promise  to 
reciprocate  by  being  equally  reticent  as  to  their  past. 
And  now  having  thus  shaken  hands,  and  forgotten 
all  unpleasant  reminiscences,  as  prize  fighters  do,  let 
us  proceed  to  business. 

There  are  many  things  of  which  we,  as  a  people, 
may  well  be  proud;  but  in  his  heart  of  hearts  the 
real    Southerner    specially    cherishes    respect    for 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  267 

women,  admiration  for  truth  and  personal  courage, 
and  contempt  for  money  as  a  prop  to  social  eleva- 
tion. These  have  been  our  household  gods — not 
always  followed,  but  always  honored.  We  may  be- 
lieve many  things  which  are  not  true,  but  so  long 
as  we  believe  them  to  be  true  they  are  true  so  far  as 
we  are  concerned,  and  influence  our  daily  lives  ac- 
cordingly. These  thoughts  have  armed  our  patriots 
on  many  a  held  and  inspired  our  statesmen  in  many 
a  contest.  They  still  constitute  the  world  of 
"power" ;  they  still  develop  men  as  in  the  olden 
time. 

Let  me  admonish  you,  therefore,  not  to  forget, 
and  let  not  your  children  forget — the  land  from 
whence  you  came.  Go  back  now  and  then,  and,  like 
Antaeus  of  old,  draw  new  strength  from  contact 
with  mother  earth.  Far  away  on  some  Sewanee 
River  of  your  youth  the  magnolia  and  jasmine  still 
bloom,  the  wild  rose  still  climbs  the  zig-zag  fence, 
and  the  simmon  seed  and  sandy  bottom  still  nourish 
the  'possum  and  yellow  yam.  There  the  lamp  of 
hospitality  still  burns  and  the  light  of  good  fellowship 
shines,  and  within  the  family  circle  are  still 
cherished  those  ancestral  faiths  which  have  helped 
to  make  the  nation  great. 


268  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Revolutions 

Wendell  Phillips 

Like  all  of  Phillips'  speeches,  this  declamation  will  speak  itself. 
The  thought  is  in  constant  motion.  Note  the  transitions  where  the 
delivery  should  pause  and  change.  Tell  the  story  of  Napoleon  in  a 
natural  manner,  making  true  to  life  the  characters  in  the  drama. 
The  real  climax  of  the  last  paragraph  comes  on  "master";  the 
sentence  following  simply  sums  up  or  restates  the  theme. 

Whenever  you  meet  a  dozen  earnest  men 
pledged  to  a  new  idea  you  meet  the  beginning  of  a 
new  revolution.  Revolutions  are  not  made,  they 
come.  A  revolution  is  as  natural  a  growth  as  an 
oak.  It  comes  out  of  the  past;  its  foundations  are 
laid  far  back.  The  child  feels ;  he  grows  into  a  man 
and  thinks ;  another,  perhaps,  speaks ;  and  the  world 
acts  out  the  thought.  And  this  is  the  history  of 
modern  society.  Men  undervalue  great  reform 
movements  because  they  imagine  you  can  always 
put  your  finger  on  some  illustrious  moment  in  his- 
tory and  say :  "Here  commenced  the  great  change 
which  has  come  over  the  nation." 

Not  so.  The  beginning  of  the  great  changes  is 
like  the  rise  of  the  Mississippi.  You  must  stoop  and 
gather  away  the  pebbles  to  find  it.  But  soon  it 
swells  broader  and  broader ;  bears  on  its  bosom  the 
navies  of  a  mighty  repubhc ;  forms  the  gulf ;  and 
divides  a  continent. 

There  is  a  story  of  Napoleon  which  illustrates  my 
meaning.  We  are  apt  to  trace  the  control  of  France 
to  some  noted  victory,  to  the  time  when  he  encamped 
in  the  Tuileries ;  or  when  he  dissolved  the  assembly 
by  the  stamp  of  his  foot.    He  reigned  in  fact  when 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  269 

his  hand  first  felt  the  helm  of  the  vessel  of  state, 
and  that  was  far  back  of  the  time  when  he  had  con- 
quered Italy,  or  his  name  had  been  echoed  over  two 
continents.  It  was  on  the  day  500  irresolute  men 
were  met  in  the  assembly  which  called  itself,  and 
pretended  to  be,  the  government  of  France.  They 
heard  that  the  mob  of  Paris  were  coming  next 
morning,  30,000  strong,  to  turn  them,  as  was  usual 
in  those  days,  out  of  doors.  And  where  did  this 
seemingly  great  power  go  for  its  support  and 
refuge?  They  sent  Tallien  to  seek  out  a  boy  lieu- 
tenant— the  shadow  of  an  officer — so  thin  and  pallid 
that  when  he  was  placed  on  the  stand  before  them, 
the  President  of  the  Assembly,  fearful,  if  the  fate  of 
France  rested  on  the  shrunken  form,  the  ashen 
cheek,  before  him,  that  all  hope  was  gone,  asked : 
"Young  man,  can  you  protect  the  assembly !"  The 
stern  lip  of  the  Corsican  boy  parted  only  to  say,  "I 
always  do  what  I  undertake."  Then  and  there 
Napoleon  ascended  his  throne ;  and  the  next  day 
from  the  steps  of  St.  Roche  thundered  forth  the  can- 
non which  taught  the  mob  of  Paris,  for  the  first  time, 
that  it  had  a  master.  That  was  the  commencement 
of  the  empire. 


270  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Thirtieth  Man 

Joint  H.  Finley 

This  is  taken  from  a  baccalaureate  address  delivered  by  Mr.  Finley 
in  June,  191 1,  he  being  at  that  time  President  of  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York.  Many  students  may  find  this  address  refreshing, 
since  it  is  something  new, — showing  originality  in  the  treatment. 
Earnest,  straight  talk  is  the  style  required  for  its  delivery.  Be  sure 
to  make  your  hearers  grasp  the  thought  of  the  first  paragraph  by  a 
deliberate  rate  and  explanatory  emphasis,  else  all  the  rest  of  the 
speech  will  be  lost.  The  action  and  hurly-burly  of  the  second  para- 
graph requires  a  rather  rapid  rate.  Slower  rate  and  deeper  emotions 
belong  with  the  combined  exposition  and  appeal  contained  in  the 
last  two   paragraphs. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  in  thickly  settled  com- 
munities one  person  in  about  every  thirty  adults 
is  a  public  servant,  that  is,  is  going  up  and  down  in 
some  vicarious  capacity  for  the  other  twenty-nine. 
The  ratio  is  higher  or  lower  according  to  the  degree 
of  socialized  life  in  a  community,  but  let  us  ar- 
bitrarily take  this  ratio  and  call  the  public  servant 
the  thirtieth  man. 

This  "thirtieth  man"  sweeps  the  streets  of  the 
city.  He  is  pontifex  of  the  country  roads.  He 
lights  the  lamps  when  the  natural  lights  of  heaven 
go  out,  and  extinguishes  the  fires  of  the  earth. 
With  one  hand  he  gathers  our  letters  of  afifection 
and  business  and  with  the  other  distributes  them  in 
the  remotest  cabins  on  the  mountains.  He  weighs 
the  wind,  reads  the  portents  of  the  clouds,  gives 
augury  of  the  heat  and  cold.  He  makes  wells  in  the 
valleys,  he  fills  the  pools  with  water.  He  tastes  the 
milk  before  the  city  child  may  drink  it ;  he  tests  and 
labels  the  food  in  the  stores  and  shops ;  he  corrects 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  271 

false  balances  and  short  measures.  He  keeps  watch 
over  forest  and  stream ;  gives  warning  of  rocks  and 
shoals  to  men  at  sea  and  of  plague  and  poison  to 
those  on  land.  He  is  warden  of  fish  and  bird  and 
wild  beast ;  he  is  host  to  the  homeless  and  shelter- 
less; he  is  guardian  and  nurse  to  the  child  who 
comes  friendless  into  the  world  and  chaplain  at  the 
burial  of  the  man  who  goes  friendless  out  of  it. 
He  is  assessor  and  collector  of  taxes — treasurer  and 
comptroller;  he  is  the  teacher  of  seventeen  million 
children,  youths,  men  and  women ;  he  is  public 
librarian  and  maker  of  books;  overseer  of  the  poor 
and  supervisor;  superintendent,  doctor,  nurse  and 
guard  in  h/jspital,  prison  and  almshouse ;  coroner 
and  keeper  of  the  potter's  field.  He  is  mayor,  judge, 
public  prosecutor  and  sheriff.  He  is  a  soldier  in  the 
army  and  a  sailor  in  the  navy,  greneral  and  admiral, 
legislator,  justice,  member  of  the  cabinet.  Governor 
and  President, 

It  has  been  said  that  "Democracy  is  always 
dreaming  of  a  nation  of  kings ;"  kings  in  the  sense 
of  men  who  are  monarchs  of  themselves  at  least, 
clear  visioned,  strong-willed,  clean-virtued  sover- 
eigns. It  is  of  that  dreaming,  of  that  longing,  that 
you  have  been  educated.  But  in  another  sense  the 
"kings"  of  democracy  are  these  "thirtieth  men," 
anointed,  appointed,  not  by  some  far-seeing  prophet, 
living  apart  from  the  people,  but  selected  of  the 
hurried  and  often  fickle  desires  of  men  in  the  midst 
of  the  struggle  for  existence.  The  gathering  of 
votes  for  such  kings  in  rough  boxes,  in  tailor  shops 
or  barber  shops  or  like  places,  does  not  impress  one 


272  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

with  the  importance  and  sacredness  of  the  fran- 
chise. And  yet  the  timid  journey  of  Samuel  to  a 
village  in  Judaea  to  anoint  a  son  of  Jesse  to  the 
kingship,  was  not  a  more  significant  pilgrimage  than 
is  that  of  a  mechanic,  merchant  or  lawyer  who  goes 
into  the  booth  to  cast  his  vote  for  the  thirtieth  man, 
in  a  republic. 

Many  of  you  will  be  called  to  act  as  public  ser- 
vants; all  of  you,  by  the  very  fact  of  your  education, 
will  be  called  to  public  service.  And  did  any  king 
of  ancient  or  even  modern  time,  for  example,  have 
a  higher  commission  than  that  which  one  generation 
gives  to  a  teacher  in  its  public  school,  college  or  uni- 
versity, to  prepare  its  children  for  a  better,  happier, 
nobler  living  in  the  next  generation?  Can  you 
imagine  'a  king  anointed  to  a  holier  service  than  that 
to  which  a  nurse  is  set  apart  of  public  sympathy  and 
utter  unselfishness  ?  Or  a  doctor,  or  bacteriologist, 
or  health  officer  guarding  us  against  the  pestilence 
that  walks  in  darkness  ?  Or  the  public-spirited  citi- 
zen, with  no  axes  to  grind,  throwing  light  upon  the 
path  that  leads  to  better  government?  It  is  to  such 
service  that  you  will  all  be  called.  You  will  be  in 
the  public  service.  You  will  be  the  kings  of  whom 
democracy  is  dreaming. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  2y^ 


What's  the  Use? 
Selected  from  Caxton  Magazine 

This  is  a  "heart-to-heart  talk,"  and  should  be  made  so  in  delivery. 
Note  that  the  first  two  paragraphs  state  the  case  for  "the  hosts  of 
Despair."  The  case  is  to  be  stated  plainly,  but  not  too  strongly. 
Beginning  the  third  paragraph  you  begin  presenting  your  siile,  and 
here  greater  emphasis  and  force  should  come,  continuing  to  the  end. 

A  skull  and  cross-bones,  and  underneath  the  de- 
vice:— "What's  the  use?"  That  is  the  dark  flag 
flying  at  the  head  of  the  hosts  of  Despair. 

"What's  the  Use?"  says  the  girl.  She  is  tired  of 
trying.  Every  circumstance  seems  a  push  of  Fate. 
The  arts  of  bad  men  and  the  indifference  of  the 
good,  the  heartlessness  of  women,  and  the  persist- 
ency of  evil  luck — all  combine  against  her.  She 
takes  "the  easiest  way."  The  bank  clerk  yields, 
embezzles ;  the  ex-convict  struggles  awhile  to  be 
straight,  and  gives  up;  the  harassed  wife  turns  to 
betrayal ;  the  bankrupt  merchant  flees  by  way  of 
suicide.     "What's  the  use?"  they  say. 

It  is  the  coward's  question.  It  is  the  pusillani- 
mous whine  of  the  weakling.  It  is  the  despicable 
excuse  of  the  traitor.  For  there  is  always  use.  If 
you  have  failed,  it  is  only  that  you  are  to  succeed  in 
a  better  way, — if  you  will.  If  you  have  done  folly, 
it  is  that  out  of  it  shall  come  a  maturer  wisdom.  If 
you  have  sinned,  it  is  that  by  repentance  and  refor- 
mation you  shall  enter  into  a  more  human  mode  of 
living. 

The  one  great  teaching  that  runs  through  all  re- 
ligions is  that  we  may  step  upon  our  dead  selves,  and 


274  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

make  our  faulty  past  be  the  stairs  whereon  to  cHmb 
to  a  finer  future.  No  more  damnable  gospel  was  ever 
spread  than  that  for  you,  or  for  any  man  or  woman, 
"There  is  no  hope."  If  you  have  a  stout  heart  left 
and  any  piece  of  sovereign  will,  rise  up,  take  the 
open  road,  adjust  your  burden  better  to  your 
shoulders,  and  breast  once  more  this  adventurous 
existence.  The  first  belief  is  a  belief  in  your  star, 
in  your  partnership  with  favorable  destiny.  Say  to 
Despair  and  Gloom  and  all  their  maudlin  sisters, 
"What's  the  use?"    And  rise  up  and  come  away! 


What  is  a  Good  Man 

Edward  A.  Ross 

The  writings  or  speeches  of  Mr.  Ross,  now  Professor  of  Sociology 
at  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  will  always  make  you  think.  His 
phrases  have  meat  and  punch  in  them.  This  selection  is  no  exception. 
Get  the  thought,  make  your  hearers  get  it  as  you  speak,  and  send  it 
forth  to  them  in  a  straight-from-the-shoulder  manner. 

One  is  not  "good"  because  he  is  strict  and  punc- 
tual in  devout  observances.  When  prompted  by  a 
canny  concern  for  one's  salvation,  church-going. 
Sabbath-keeping,  and  fasting  are  no  more  goodness 
than  is  careful  attention  to  one's  fire  insurance 
policies.  Nor  do  correct  habits  constitute  good- 
ness. Abstinence  from  liquor  or  tobacco  may  be 
no  more  meritorious  than  abstinence  from  Welsh 
rarebit.  Nevertheless,  self-control  is  a  requisite  and 
no  one  enslaved  by  his  appetite  is  in  the  way  of 
virtue. 

The  beginning  of  goodness  is  to  stand  on  one's 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  275 

own  feet.  This  requires  moral  stamina,  now  that 
there  are  so  many  new  ways  of  being  a  parasite. 
For  your  tainted  news  is  a  climbing  upon  other 
people's  backs,  Mr.  Editor.  So  is  your  secret  re- 
bate, Mr.  Shipper;  your  stock  juggle,  Mr.  Financier; 
your  perfunctory  supervision,  Mr.  Official ;  your 
whitewashing  investigation,  Mr.  Legislator;  your 
hold-up  strike,  Mr.  Walking  Delegate. 

To  stand  on  one's  own  feet  is  to  abide  by  the 
rules  of  the  game.  The  insurance  men  who  buy 
a  block  of  stock  with  the  agreement  that  it  is  theirs 
if  the  price  goes  up,  but  the  company's  if  the  price 
goes  down,  the  traffic  men  who  withhold  the  facili- 
ties of  a  common  carrier  from  rival  coal  operators, 
the  candidate  who  nullifies  his  public  pledges  with 
a  secret  pledge,  the  editor  who  palms  off  paid  stuff 
as  editorial  opinion,  the  preacher  who  lays  away  the 
sermons  that  might  grate  on  the  rich  pew-holder, 
the  professor  of  economics  who  shies  from  the  "live 
wire"  to  burrow  into  the  archaeology  of  his  subject 
— these  commit  breach  of  confidence.  They  are 
not  playing  the  game  as  it  is  generally  understood. 

But  the  good  man  will  help  others,  and  when  he 
comes  to  spend  himself  for  others  two  paths  are 
open.  He  may  minister  to  the  suffering,  like  the 
Red  Cross  nurse,  or  the  charity  worker ;  or  he  may 
uphold  and  improve  the  rules  of  the  game.  Though 
less  picturesque,  the  latter  way  is  none  the  less 
flinty.  For  ages  the  Good  Samaritan  has  borne  the 
palm.  But  what  of  the  inspector  who  reports  the 
scandalous  state  of  affairs  on  the  Jericho  Road, 
even   though   the    chances    are   his    superiors    will 


y 


2"]^  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

pigeonhole  his  report  and  dismiss  him?  What  of 
the  prosecutor  who  commits  political  harakari  in 
order  to  get  the  men  "higher  up"  who  protect  and 
blackmail  the  thieves  working  the  Jericho  Road? 
The  Samaritan  risked  a  big  tavern  bill ;  these  risk 
a  livelihood.    Which  is  the  better  man  ? 

Commercialism  and  Idealism 

Francis  G.   Peahody 

The  speaker  is  Professor  of  Christian  morals  in  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. The  occasion  was  the  annual  banquet  of  the  New  England 
Society  of  New  York  City,  December,  1907.  The  concrete  illustra- 
tions in  this  declamation,  in  which  are  skillfully  woven  the  theme, 
will  hold  the  interest  of  the  average  audience. 

There  is  a  picture  in  the  State  House  of  Minne- 
sota which  tells  the  story  of  American  experience. 
A  prairie  schooner  with  its  oxen  is  toiling  west- 
ward, bearing  a  plain  family  to  some  undiscovered 
home,  and  above  this  prosaic  caravan  hover  the 
angels  of  hope  and  faith  and  love,  pointing  the  way 
to  go.  Below  is  the  spirit  of  commercialism,  and 
above  the  spirit  of  idealism,  and  the  plodding  life 
of  America  marches  on  between  the  angels  and  the 
soil. 

Here,  then,  we  stand,  in  these  days  which  are 
testing  the  American  character,  and  in  the  conflict 
of  these  two  forces  lies  the  problem  of  our  future. 
Are  we  to  be  the  victims  of  our  own  prosperity, 
and  robbed  of  our  ideals  by  the  very  magnitude  of 
our  commercial  gains?  Then  we  shall  go  the  way 
of  earlier  nations,  Persia,  Egypt,  Rome,  and  the 
history  of  our  decline  will  become  a  warning  and 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  2yy 

a  byword  to  the  world.  Or  is  it  possible  that  the 
very  conditions  of  our  commercial  life  are  likely 
to  create  among  us  a  new  idealism ;  not  the  languid 
and  aesthetic  taste  which  drives  people  away  from 
our  democracy  and  makes  them  at  home  among 
aristocracies,  monarchies,  castles,  and  ruins,  but  the 
robust  and  virile  idealism  which  issues  from  great 
tasks,  summoning  to  their  service  the  best  that  is 
in  men?  Many  signs  of  the  times,  I  think,  may 
encourage  one  in  the  thought.  There  is  a  bridge  at 
Geneva,  set  where  two  rivers  meet  in  the  turbulent 
rivalry  of  conflicting  currents.  One  stream,  the 
Rhone,  has  flowed  down  between  pasture  banks  and 
runs  clear  as  crystal  in  a  broad,  deep  channel.  The 
other  stream,  the  Azr,  is  a  glacial  torrent,  hurrying 
and  tumultuous  with  the  melting  of  the  ice.  For 
a  time  the  muddy  torrent  seems  to  overwhelm  the 
broader  Rhone,  and  its  tranquillity  and  transparency 
are  submerged  and  defiled;  but  soon  the  glacial 
impurities  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  stream,  and 
the  Rhone  sweeps  unvexed  and  unpolluted  to  the 
sea.  So  meet  the  forces  of  commercialism  and 
idealism  in  American  life,  and  the  turbulent  current 
seems  to  overwhelm  the  tranquil  flow ;  and  as  one 
leans  over  the  bridge  of  time  it  seems  as  though 
the  resulting  river  must  be  a  turbid  glacial  stream. 
Steadily,  however,  from  the  fountains  of  an  hon- 
orable past  the  springs  of  idealism  send  down  their 
full  supply,  until  at  last  the  broader  current  of 
idealism  may  subdue  the  rush  of  commercialism, 
and  the  Rhone  of  American  democracy  flow  to  the 
ocean  of  its  destiny,  unvexed  and  free. 


278  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

The  Reign  of  the  Common  People 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 

This  selection  is  adapted  from  a  lecture  delivered  in  Exeter  Hall, 
London,  in  1886,  when  Mr.  Beecher  was  making  his  last  tour  of 
Great  Britain.  The  first  two  paragraphs  are  largely  expository: 
they  state  the  subject  for  discussion.  Don't  slight  the  touch  of  humor 
in  the  second  paragraph.  The  last  paragraph  is  serious  discussion 
and  earnest  appeal. 

When  you  look  upon  the  experiment  of  self- 
government  in  America  you  may  not  have  a  very 
high  opinion  of  it.  Why,  men  will  say :  "It  stands 
to  reason  that  100,000,000  people  ignorant  of  law, 
ignorant  of  constitutional  history,  ignorant  of  juris- 
prudence, of  finance,  and  taxes  and  tariffs  and 
forms  of  currency — 100,000,000  people  that  never 
studied  these  things — are  not  fit  to  rule.  What  fit- 
ness is  there  in  these  people?  Well,  it  is  not  de- 
mocracy merely;  it  is  a  representative  democracy. 
Our  people  do  not  vote  in  mass  for  anything;  they 
pick  out  captains  of  thought,  they  pick  out  the 
men  that  do  know,  and  they  send  them  to  the 
Legislature  to  think  for  them,  and  then  the  people 
afterward  ratify  or  disallow  them. 

But  when  you  come  to  the  Legislature  I  am 
bound  to  confess  that  the  thing  does  not  look  very 
much  more  cheering  on  the  outside.  Do  they  really 
select  the  best  men?  Yes;  in  times  of  danger  they 
do  very  generally,  but  in  ordinary  time,  "kissing 
goes  by  favor."  You  know  what  the  duty  of  a 
regular  Republican-Democratic  legislator  is.  It  is 
to  get  back  again  next  winter.  His  second  duty 
is  what?    His  second  is  to  put  himself  under  that 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  279 

extraordinary  providence  that  takes  care  of  legis- 
lators' salaries.  Their  next  duty  after  that  is  to 
serve  the  party  that  sent  them  up  and  then,  if  there 
is  anything  left  of  them,  it  belongs  to  the  common- 
wealth. Someone  has  said  very  wisely,  that  if  a 
man  traveling  wishes  to  relish  his  dinner  traveling 
he  had  better  not  go  into  the  kitchen  to  see  where 
it  is  cooked;  if  a  man  wishes  to  respect  and  obey 
the  law,  he  had  better  not  go  to  the  Legislature 
to  see  where  that  is  cooked. 

There  are  many  great  faults  in  self-government, 
and  yet  I  say  that  self-government  is  the  best  gov- 
ernment that  ever  existed  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
How  should  that  be  with  all  these  damaging  facts  ? 
"By  their  fruits,  ye  shall  know  them."  What  a 
government  is,  is  to  be  determined  by  the  kind  of 
people  it  raises,  and  I  will  defy  the  whole  world 
in  time  past  and  in  time  present  to  show  so  vast 
a  proportion  of  citizens  so  well  off,  so  continued, 
so  remunerated  by  their  toil  as  in  America.  The 
average  of  happiness  under  our  self-government  is 
greater  than  it  ever  has  been  or  can  be,  found 
under  any  sky,  or  in  any  period  of  human  history. 
And  the  philosophical  reason  is  not  far  to  find ;  it 
belongs  to  that  category  in  which  a  worse  thing 
is  sometimes  a  great  deal  better  than  a  better  thing. 
No  man  ever  yet  learned  by  having  somebody  else 
learn  for  him.  A  man  learns  arithmetic  by  blunder 
in  and  blunder  out,  but  at  last  he  gets  it.  A  man 
learns  to  write  through  scrawling;  a  man  learns 
to  swim  by  going  into  the  water,  and  a  man  learns 
to  vote  by  voting.     Now  we  are  not  attempting  to 


28o  JVinning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

make  a  government;  we  are  attempting  to  teach 
100,000,000  people  how  to  conduct  a  government 
by  self-control,  by  knowledge,  by  intelligence,  by 
fair  opportunity  to  practice.  It  is  better  that  we 
should  have  100,000,000  men  learning  through  their 
own  mistakes  how  to  govern  themselves,  than  it  is 
to  have  an  arbitrary  government  with  the  whole  of 
the  rest  of  the  people  ignorant. 


The  Public  Duty  of  Educated  Men 
George  William  Curtis 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  Commencement  address  at  Union  College, 
June  2j,  1877.  Be  sure  to  place  the  emphasis  so  as  to  bring  out  the 
thought.  Use  the  circumflex  inflections  to  express  the  satire  at  the 
close  of  the  first  paragraph.  Note  and  express  the  contrast  in  view- 
points in  the  last  paragraph;  "then  remember"  begins  an  emphatic 
appeal  that  requires  much  more  force  than  the  preceding  part  of  the 
sentence. 

Public  duty  in  this  country  is  not  discharged, 
as  is  often  supposed,  by  voting.  A  man  may  vote 
regularly,  and  still  fail  essentially  of  his  political 
duty,  as  the  Pharisee  who  gave  tithes  of  all  that 
he  possessed  and  fasted  three  times  in  the  week, 
yet  lacked  the  very  heart  of  religion.  When  an 
American  citizen  is  content  with  voting  merely,  he 
consents  to  accept  what  is  often  a  doubtful  alterna- 
tive. His  first  duty  is  to  help  shape  the  alternative. 
This,  which  was  formerly  less  necessary,  is  now 
indispensable.  In  a  rural  community  such  as  this 
country  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  whoever  was 
nominated  for  ofifice  was  known  to  his  neighbors, 
and   the  consciousness   of   that  knowledge  was  a 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  281 

conservative  influence  in  determining  nominations. 
But  in  the  local  elections  of  the  great  cities  of  to- 
day, elections  that  control  taxation  and  expenditure, 
the  mass  of  the  voters  vote  in  absolute  ignorance 
of  the  candidates.  The  citizen  who  supposes  that 
he  does  all  his  duty  when  he  votes  places  a  premium 
upon  political  knavery.  Thieves  welcome  him  to 
the  polls  and  offer  him  a  choice,  which  he  has  done 
nothing  to  prevent,  between  Jeremy  Diddler  and 
Dick  Turpin.  The  party  cries  of  which  he  is  re- 
sponsible are:  "Turpin  and  Honesty,"  "Diddler  and 
Reform." 

There  is  not  an  American  merchant  who  would 
send  a  ship  to  sea  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Kidd,  however  skillful  a  sailor  he  might  be.  Why 
should  he  vote  to  send  Captain  Kidd  to  the  legis- 
lature or  to  put  him  in  command  of  the  ship  of 
state  because  his  party  directs?  The  party  which 
to-day  nominates  Captain  Kidd  will  to-morrow 
nominate  Judas  Iscariot,  and  to-morrow,  as  to-day, 
party  spirit  will  spurn  you  as  a  traitor  for  refusing 
to  sell  your  master. 

But  let  us  not  be  deceived.  While  good  men  sit 
at  home,  not  knowing  that  there  is  anything  to  be 
done,  nor  caring  to  know ;  cultivating  a  feeling  that 
politics  are  tiresome  and  dirty,  and  politicians  vulgar 
bullies  and  bravos ;  half  persuaded  that  a  republic 
is  the  contemptible  rule  of  a  mob,  and  secretly  long- 
ing for  a  splendid  and  vigorous  despotism — then 
remember  it  is  not  a  government  mastered  by  ig- 
norance, it  is  a  government  betrayed  by  intelligence  ; 
it  is  not  the  victory  of  the  slums,  it  is  the  surrender 


282  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

of  the  schools;  it  is  not  that  bed  men  are  brave, 
but  that  good  men  are  infidels  and  cowards. 

Truth  and  Victory 
D.  C.  Scoville 

For  the  tncJst  part,  ringing  tones  and  very  strong  force  should  char- 
acterize the  delivery  of  this  declamation.  A  pause  and  change  to 
the  conversational  style  comes  at  the  opening  of  the  third  para- 
graph.  Express  the  suspense  as  the  story  is  unfolded.  The  climax 
is  reached  on  "Balaklava  was  won."  Then  follows  a  note  of  pathos, 
and  the   speech  closes  with  a  very  strong,   ringing  appeal. 

The  face  of  the  world  is  changing.  When  crazy 
old  John  Coffin  went  down  to  the  Battery  and, 
looking  eastward  over  New  York  Bay,  called  out 
"Attention,  Europe  !  Nations  !  by  the  right,  wheel !" 
he  saw  what  sane  men  see  now.  Nations  are  dis- 
covering there  is  something  more  terrible  than 
armies,  something  more  reliable  than  battalions  and 
bayonets,  something  wiser  than  Senators,  something 
greater  than  royalty,  something  sweeter  than  liberty. 
Through  the  Gospel  of  Peace  and  through  the 
Gospel  of  War  one  name  is  sounding  over  the 
continents.  Truth!  inspires  the  student  of  history; 
Truth !  is  the  watchword  of  science ;  Truth !  is  the 
victorious  cry  of  Christianity.  Graven  on  the  in- 
tellect of  the  statesman,  burned  into  the  brain  of 
the  philosopher,  blazoned  upon  the  standard  borne 
in  the  van  of  the  army  of  progress.  Truth!  is  the 
animating  shout  of  the  ages. 

In  these  days  of  political  corruption,  while  one 
after  another  of  our  trusted  leaders  falls  before  the 
righteous  and  relentless  indignation  of  public  senti- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  283 

ment,  it  helps  him  who  despairs  of  the  future  to 
remember  that  company  in  whose  veins  flows  the 
young  blood  of  the  nation,  in  whose  eyes  kindle 
the  fires  of  a  pure  faith,  and  from  whose  hearts 
radiate  the  strong  purposes  that  make  nations  and 
direct  civilization.  These  shall  rise  up  where  need 
is,  and  go  into  life's  great  battle  with  unfaltering 
heroism;  and  under  their  banner  shall  gather  the 
world's  best  and  bravest  youth. 

In  the  terrible  battle  of  Balaklava  two  British 
regiments  were  calmly  awaiting  the  advance  of 
twelve  times  their  number  of  Russians.  It  was  a 
fearful  momeni.  The  English  and  French  generals 
and  thousands  of  soldiers  looked  from  the  heights 
above  upon  this  heroic  handful  of  silent,  motionless 
men  who,  with  sublime  courage,  held  the  honor  of 
Britain  in  that  supreme  hour.  The  glittering  lines 
of  Russians  came  confidently  on.  They  halted  in 
very  wonderment  at  the  heroism  of  the  devoted 
band  of  English.  Suddenly  the  British  trumpets 
sounded  the  charge,  and  the  Scotch  Greys  dashed 
at  the  foremost  line  of  Russians.  It  yielded  and 
broke.  Again  the  heroic  little  band  gathered  its 
thinned  and  broken  ranks,  and  flung  itself  against 
the  second  line.  "God  save  the  Queen!  they  are 
lost!'"  cried  a  thousand  of  their  comrades  from  the 
heights.  It  seemed  madness,  it  was  madness ;  but 
it  was  madness  w^hich  knows  nothing  but  success. 
Ten  minutes  of  the  agony  of  suspense,  and  then 
a  wild,  spontaneous,  tumultuous  cheer  burst  from 
the  watching  thousands  on  the  hills,  and  Balaklava 
was   won.      There,    on   the  post  where  victory  re- 


284  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

warded  valor,  they  lifted  tenderly  up  a  dying  High- 
lander. He  plucked  from  his  breast  a  cross  of 
honor,  through  which  the  fatal  bayonet  had  crashed. 
"Take  this  to  mother,"  said  he,  "and  tell  her  I  was 
struck  when  we  charged  the  first  line,  but  I  could 
not  die  till  we  had  carried  the  second." 

And  so,  in  the  infinitely  nobler  battle  of  life, 
remember,  as  you  stand  single  and  unsupported  in 
the  conflict  of  Truth,  that  the  hosts  of  Heaven, 
whose  cause  is  that  day  intrusted  to  your  keeping, 
are  watching  you  with  infinite  solicitude.  Heed  not 
the  odds  against  you.  Ask  for  no  allies.  Depend 
upon  no  reinforcements.  Against  all  the  world, 
against  wrong  government,  against  corrupt  society, 
you  alone  are  invincible,  you  alone  irrestible. 

The  Minute  Man  of  the  Revolution 

George  William  Ctirtis 

This  is  taken  from  an  oration  delivered  at  the  Centennial  Cele- 
bration of  Concord  Fight,  April  19,  1876.  Note  and  depict  by 
means  of  tone  changes  and  word-coloring  the  various  pictures  that 
are  presented  in  the  first  paragraph.  Note  the  change  of  rate  re- 
quired in  the  second  paragraph.  Following  the  exclamation  of  John 
Adams,  "Oh,  what  a  glorious  morning!"  The  rate  should  be  much 
faster  as  the  subsequent  action  is  described.  In  delivering  the 
third  paragraph,  it  should  be  remembered  that  within  sight  of  the 
speaker  stood  the  statue  of  the  Minute  Man  which  is  erected  at 
Concord.  The  last  paragraph  is  an  exceedingly  strong  appeal,  and 
the  latter  part,  particularly,  should  be  delivered  with  all  the  fire 
and   force   you   can   muster. 

The  Minute  Man  of  the  American  Revolution! 
And  who  was  he?  He  was  the  old,  the  middle- 
aged,  and  the  young.  He  was  the  husband  and 
father,  who  left  his  plow  in  the  furrow  and  his 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  285 

hammer  on  the  bench  and  marched  to  die  or  to  be 
free.  He  was  the  son  and  lover,  the  plain,  shy 
youth  of  the  singing  school  and  the  village  choir, 
whose  heart  beat  to  arms  for  his  country  and  who 
felt,  though  he  could  not  say,  with  the  old  English 
cavalier : 

"I  could  not  love  thee,  dear,  so  much. 
Loved  I  not  honor  more." 

He  was  the  man  who  was  willing  to  pour  out 
his  Hfe's  blood  for  a  principle.  Intrenched  in  his 
own  honesty,  the  king's  gold  could  not  buy  him ; 
enthroned  in  the  love  of  his  fellow  citizens,  the 
king's  writ  could  not  take  him;  and  when,  on  the 
morning  at  Lexington,  the  king's  troops  marched 
to  seize  him,  his  sublime  faith  saw,  beyond  the 
clouds  of  the  moment,  the  rising  sun  of  the  America 
we  behold,  and,  careless  of  self,  mindful  only  of 
his  country,  he  exultingly  exclaimed,  "Oh,  what  a 
glorious  paoramJP^^And  then,  amid  the  flashing 
hills,  the  ringing  woods,  the  flaming  roads,  he  smote 
with  terror  the  haughty  British  column,  and  sent  it 
shrinking,  bleeding,  wavering,  and  reeling  through 
the  streets  of  the  village,  panic-stricken  and  broken. 

Him  we  gratefully  recall  to-day ;  him  we  commit 
in  his  immortal  youth  to  the  reverence  of  our 
children.  And  here  amid  these  peaceful  fields, — 
here  in  the  heart  of  Middlesex  County,  of  Lexing- 
ton and  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill, — stand  fast.  Son 
of  Liberty,  as  the  minute  men  stood  at  the  old 
North  Bridge.  But  should  we  or  our  descendants, 
false  to  justice  and  humanity,  betray  in  any  way 


286  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

their  cause,  spring  into  life  as  a  hundred  years  ago, 
take  one  more  step,  descend,  and  lead  us,  as  God 
led  you  in  saving  America,  to  save  the  hopes  of 
man. 

No  hostile  fleet,  for  many  a  year,  has  vexed  the 
waters  of  our  coast;  nor  is  any  army  but  our  own 
ever  likely  to  tread  our  soil.  Not  such  are  our 
enemies  to-day.  They  do  not  come,  proudly  step- 
ping to  the  drumbeat,  their  bayonets  flashing  in 
the  morning  sun.  But  wherever  party  spirit  shall 
strain  the  ancient  guarantees  of  freedom ;  or  bigotry 
and  ignorance  shall  lay  their  fatal  hands  on  edu- 
cation ;  or  the  arrogance  of  caste  shall  strike  at 
equal  rights ;  or  corruption  shall  poison  the  very 
springs  of  national  life, — there,  Minute  Men  of 
Liberty,  are  your  Lexington  Green  and  Concord 
Bridge.  And  as  you  love  your  country  and  your 
kind,  and  would  have  your  children  rise  up 
and  call  you  blessed,  spare  not  the  enemy.  Over 
the  hills,  out  of  the  earth,  down  from  the  clouds, 
pour  in  resistless  might.  Fire  from  every  rock  and 
tree,  from  door  and  window,  from  hearthstone  and 
chamber.  Hang  upon  his  flank  from  morn  till  sun- 
set, and  so,  through  a  land  blazing  with  holy  in- 
dignation, hurl  the  hordes  of  ignorance  and  corrup- 
tion and  injustice  back, — back  in  utter  defeat  and 
ruin. 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  287 

The  Power  of  Ideas 

L.  G.  Long 

The  oral  interpretation  of  this  declamation  requires  deep,  in- 
tense thought.  Moderate  rate  and  strong,  voluminous  tones  should 
generally   characterize   the    delivery   throughout. 

Men  act  in  bodies ;  they  think  in  solitude.  The 
world's  thought  is  the  product  of  a  few  master 
minds.  A  new  idea,  a  new  spark  struck  from  the 
brain  forge  of  some  God-sent  genius,  lights  the 
world  for  ages.  Around  each  intellectual  luminary 
floats  a  multitude  of  satellites,  who  drink  in  the 
brilliancy  of  his  pure,  strong  rays,  but  emit  a  feeble 
and  languid  light  which  serves  only  to  deepen  their 
own  obscurity  in  its  original  splendor.  The  world 
is  full  of  critics  and  commentators  who  bend  and 
warp  and  twist  the  truth  that  already  exists  to  fit 
their  own  environment.  An  age  of  business  and 
barter  is  not  conducive  to  profound  thought;  an 
age  of  books  and  newspapers  is  ill  adapted  to 
original  thinking.  Few  are  they  who  think,  who 
create,  who  are  known  to  add  one  title  to  the  store- 
house of  knowledge. 

Only  the  success  of  a  new  idea  renders  its  author 
famous.  What,  then,  do  we  understand  by  the 
success  of  an  idea?  An  idea  succeeds  whenever 
it  ceases  to  be  a  pure  mental  abstraction,  a  mere 
child  of  fancy,  and  becomes  a  real  entity,  bodied 
forth  in  some  visible,  tangible  form,  in  some  use- 
ful implement,  some  work  of  art,  some  beneficent 
institution  ministering  to  the  moral,  intellectual  or 
physical  needs  of  men.    What  was  Weslev  without 


288  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

a  Methodism  or  Knox  without  a  Presbyterianism  ? 
What  was  Milton  without  a  Paradise  Lost  or  Goethe 
without  a  Faust? 

The  Roman  idea  succeeded  when  the  shadow  of 
the  Roman  eagle  enveloped  the  whole  civilized 
world.  The  English  idea  succeeded  when  her 
"morning  drumbeat,  keeping  pace  with  the  sun,  en- 
circled the  globe  with  one  continuous  and  unbroken 
strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  England."  The  Ameri- 
can idea  succeeded  when  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
baptized  and  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  revolution, 
rebaptized  and  reconsecrated  by  the  blood  of  rebel- 
lion, ceased  to  be  the  symbol  of  a  loose  and  unstable 
federation  of  states,  and  became  the  sacred  emblem 
of  a  great  and  glorious  nation. 

Where  do  w^e  find  ideas  that  will  endure?  Not 
in  the  busy  marts  of  trade ;  not  in  the  alcoves  of 
dusty  libraries ;  not  amid  the  gaud  and  splendor  of 
the  gay  salon ;  not  in  palaces  rich  with  the  decora- 
tions and  adornments  of  lavished  fortunes,  but  in 
some  cloistered  retreat,  where  the  soul  of  man  lives 
close  to  the  heart  of  nature,  where  God's  face  is 
not  obscured  by  the  dust  and  smoke  of  cities,  where 
some  Plato  muses  in  his  leafy  grove,  or  where  some 
Emerson  meditates  beneath  the  shade  trees  of  his 
Concord  farm — there,  in  such  secluded  spots,  great 
ideas  struggle  into  life. 

Better  were  it  that  Galileo  heard  not  the  voice 
of  the  priest,  but  saw  the  swinging  of  the  chandelier. 
Better  for  mankind  that  Moses  left  the  discontented 
Israelites  and  climbed  Mount  Sinai.  Better  for 
humanity  that  Watt  lost  himself  in  his  own  deep 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  289 

reflections  or  Edison  sinks  from  sight  in  the  crystal 
sea  of  his  own  great  th  ^ughts.  Well  may  society 
afTord  to  lose  the  splendid  presence  of  these  noble 
souls,  if  from  the  ashes  of  their  burnt-out  minds 
arise  on  Phcenix  wings  those  sublime  truths  which 
serve  as  beacon  lights  to  a  benighted  world,  a  bless- 
ing to  mankind. 

The  Still  Undiscovered  America 
Leslie  Willis  Spragiie 

This  is  an  extract  delivered  before  the  Society  of  Ethical  Culture. 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  October  3,  1909.  "The  conversational  raised  to 
its  highest  power"  is  the  style  that  should  characterize  the  delivery. 

America  called  to  the  Old  World  and  the  ships 
of  discoverers  came.  Again  she  called  and  colonists 
came  to  make  here  their  homes  and  graves.  She 
called  and  daring  spirits  pressed  into  the  primeval 
forests,  over  desert  and  mountain,  and  to  the  West- 
ern boundaries  of  her  great  continent.  She  called 
for  those  who  would  give  her  liberty  and  brave 
men  arose  to  fight  her  battles.  She  called  for 
union,  and  Lincoln  and  a  mighty  army  responded. 
Again  she  called,  this  time  for  energy  and  enter- 
prise, and  millions  from  all  lands  came  gladly  to 
plow  her  fields,  build  her  railroads,  canals  and  cities 
and  create  her  commerce. 

America,  at  first  a  land,  has  become  a  govern- 
ment, a  people,  a  life.  It  must  become,  it  will  be- 
come, a  higher  and  yet  higher  life.  The  exploration 
of  the  real  America  is  not  made  with  boats,  nor 
through  pathless  forests  or  trailless  deserts.  The 
way  is  over  the  unmarked  spaces  of  the  ideal  that 


290  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

lead  to  liberty,  fraternity  and  truth.  America  is 
discovered  in  the  heart  of  him  who  presses  toward 
the  visions  of  liberty,  fraternity  and  truth. 

Righteousness  is  a  cornerstone  of  the  ideal 
American  religious  liberty;  liberty  to  be  and  do 
what  conscience  appoints  has  been  and  is  still  the 
motive  of  the  immigrant.  It  was  out  of  a  sense 
of  the  infinite  meaning  and  eternal  necessity  of 
justice  that  America  came.  Her  founders  and 
builders  sought  to  read  new  meaning  in  the  eternal 
law.  Now,  as  ever,  Americans  must  study  and  seek 
to  incarnate  the  moral  law. 

There  are  grave  ills  that  threaten  not  only  the 
discovery  of  the  ideal  America,  but  even  the  per- 
petuation of  what  America  has  become.  The 
present  dangers  lie  in  the  inordinate  power  of 
selfish,  clear-conscious,  concentrated  wealth,  which 
bids  defiance  to  justice,  fraternity  and  truth.  The 
debased  political  life  so  general  throughout  the 
land  makes  a  travesty  of  liberty.  The  business  life 
that  boldly  disclaims  any  object  other  than  mone- 
tary gain,  and  is  so  often  indifferent  to  the  claims 
of  humanity,  is  a  deadly  foe  of  the  real  America. 
The  waste  of  America's  blood-gained  wealth 
through  liquor  and  luxury  is  sapping  the  vitality  of 
the  nation.  The  neglect  of  the  poor,  the  exploita- 
tion of  labor,  the  rack-renting  suffered  by  the  city 
dweller,  the  slaughter  of  the  innocents  in  mills  and 
mines  and  by  the  railroads,  the  bleeding  of  the  con- 
sumer by  the  trusts,  these  agencies  of  starvation, 
pauperization,  and  demoralization  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  discovery  of  the  true  and  larger  America. 


Winning  Dcclamotions-How  to  Speak  Them  291 

The  American  spirit  is  social.  It  calls  for  co- 
operation. It  requires  organization.  The  America 
of  which  patriotic  hearts  dream  is  not  realized  in 
the  personal  life  alone,  but  it  comes  when  all  men 
are  rightly  joined  in  a  right  social  relationship. 
"Each  for  himself"  is  the  motto  of  anarchy.  It 
may  also  serve  aristocracy  and  royalty.  "I'^ach  for 
all  and  all  for  each"  is  the  motto  of  American 
progress. 

Efficiency  and  Riches 
Bert  Moses 

This  is  taken  from  an  article  in  the  Claxton  Magazine  for 
December,  1913.  Direct,  strong  talk  is  the  style  required  for  its 
delivery. 

This  is  a  message  to  men  whose  aspiration  is  to 
be  somebody  rather  than  to  be  rich.  God  knows  it  is 
time  more  was  said  about  men  themselves  and  less 
about  money.  We  have  been  surfeited  with  talks 
on  so-called  efficiency  by  more  or  less  efficient 
writers,  and  the  moment  is  here  to  say  that  the 
pushing  of  men  to  their  utmost  physical  capacity 
and  the  piling  up  of  the  utmost  profits  are  not 
necessarily  all  there  is  worth  while. 

A  message  of  hope  and  good  cheer  is  this — a 
slap  on  the  shoulder,  a  grasp  of  the  hand  and  a 
godspeed  to  him  who  would  be  called  "blessed"  by 
both  the  inefficient  and  cflicient.  Of  the  hundreds 
of  millions  of  men  who  have  passed  through  this 
thing  we  call  "life,"  a  scanty  few  have  left  an 
impress  that  the  resistless  movement  of  the  ages  has 
not  swept  away.     And  among  the  names  of  these 


292  J  J 'inning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

mental  giants  whose  fame  has  so  long  outlived  their 
clay,  I  fail  to  find  one  whose  renown  is  built  upon 
an  ability  to  attain  great  riches.  Quite  recently  a 
prominent  gentleman  gave  the  names  of  twenty  men 
who,  in  his  opinion,  had  most  benefited  the  human 
race.  This  list  has  been  revised  and  rewritten  many 
times,  and  among  all  the  names  in  all  the  lists  not 
one  appears  of  a  "rich  man,"  as  we  understand 
that  term  to-day. 

There  are  living  to-day  in  America  but  two  men 
whose  fame  for  all  time  seems  secure,  and  those 
two  men  are  Edison  and  Burbank.  There  is  living 
to-day  no  editor  who  will  jostle  Greeley  and  Dana 
from  the  place  of  honor  in  journalistic  history. 
There  is  living  to-day  no  American  statesman  with 
the  mental  reach  of  Franklin,  Jefferson,  Hamilton, 
Clay,  Webster  or  Lincoln.  Gone  is  Beecher,  and 
we  look  in  vain  for  a  preacher  who  really  has  some- 
thing to  say.  Not  a  single  politician  can  be  named 
whose  honesty  and  sincerity  are  unquestioned,  and 
whose  purposes  are  generally  credited  as  unselfish. 
Our  writers  no  longer  write  what  they  think,  but 
rather  what  will  sell.  Our  actors  play  in  plays  that 
pay,  and  not  in  plays  that  elevate.  All  have  lost 
their  personality,  and  "Take  the  cash  and  let  the 
credit  go." 

Possibly  this  indictment  is  too  broad,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  personality  and  genius  have  little  to 
urge  them  on  in  this  generation.  I  have  never 
been  able  to  see  any  great  good  come  from  doing 
a  thing  a  certain  way  simply  because  somebody  else 
did  it  that  way.     The  world's  prizes  are  bestowed 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  293 

upon  those  who  break  away  from  the  fixed  customr, 
and  beat  a  new  path  where  others  have  not  dared 
to  go.  Do  not  be  too  anxious  about  annexing  more 
money  than  you  need,  but  annex  all  the  joy  you 
can  as  you  go  through  life  by  feeling  and  knowing 
that  you  are  free — that  you  are  liberating  your 
forces  in  a  labor  that  is  done  as  you  wish  to  do  it. 
God  has  ordained  but  one  way  for  you  to  be  some- 
body, and  that  way  is  to  Be  Yourself — and  use  com- 
mon sense. 

The  Masterpiece  of  God 

Elbert  Hubbard 

In  preparation  for  speaking  this  selection,  study  a  reproduction 
of  the  "Mona  Lisa."  The  declamation  itself  will  bear  intensive 
study.  A  slow  rate,  permitting  ample  time  for  the  imagination  to 
work  and  for  the  emotional  coloring  of  the  words,  is  required  for 
effective  delivery. 

The  human  face  is  the  masterpiece  of  God.  A 
woman's  smile  may  have  in  it  more  sublimity  than 
a  sunset;  more  pathos  than  a  battle-scarred  land- 
scape ;  more  warmth  than  the  sun's  bright  rays ; 
more  love  than  words  can  say.  The  human  face  is 
the  masterpiece  of  God. 

On  the  walls  of  the  Louvre,  in  Paris,  hangs  the 
"Mona  Liza"  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  This  picture 
has  been  four  hundred  years  an  exasperation  and 
an  inspiration  to  every  portrait-painter  who  has  put 
brush  to  palette.  Well  does  Walter  Pater  call  it 
"The  Despair  of  Painters."  The  artist  was  over 
fifty  years  of  age  when  he  began  the  work,  and  he 
was  four  years  in  completing  the  task. 


294  IVinning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

There  is  in  the  face  all  you  can  read  into  it  and 
nothing  else.  It  is  as  silent  as  the  lips  of  Memnon, 
as  voiceless  as  the  Sphinx.  It  suggests  to  3'ou  every 
joy  that  you  have  ever  felt,  every  sorrow  you  have 
ever  known,  every  triumph  you  have  ever  experi- 
enced. 

This  woman  is  beautiful,  just  as  all  life  is  beauti- 
ful when  we  are  in  health.  She  has  no  quarrel  with 
the  world — she  loves  and  she  is  loved  again.  No 
vain  longing  fills  her  heart,  no  feverish  unrest  dis- 
turbs her  dreams,  for  her  no  crouching  fears  haunt 
the  passing  hours — that  ineflfable  smile  which  plays 
round  her  mouth  says  plainly  that  life  is  good. 

Back  of  her  stretches  her  life,  a  mysterious  purple 
shadow.  Do  you  not  see  the  palaces  turned  to 
dust,  the  broken  columns,  the  sunken  treasures,  the 
creeping  mosses,  and  the  rank  ooze  of  fretted 
waters  that  have  undermined  cities  and  turned 
kingdoms  into  desert  seas?  The  galleys  of  pagan 
Greece  have  swung  wide  for  her  on  the  unforget- 
ting  tide,  for  her  soul  dwelt  in  the  body  of  Helen 
of  Troy,  and  Pallas  Athena  has  followed  her  ways 
and  whispered  to  her  even  the  secrets  of  the  gods. 
Aye !  not  only  was  she  Helen,  but  she  was  Leda, 
the  mother  of  Helen,  Then  she  was  St.  Anne, 
mother  of  Mary;  and  next  she  was  Mary,  visited 
by  an  angel  in  a  dream,  and  followed  by  the  wise 
men  who  had  seen  the  Star  in  the  East.  And  so 
this  Lady  of  the  Beautiful  Hands  stood  to  Leonardo 
as  the  embodiment  of  a  perpetual  life;  moving  in  a 
constantly  ascending  scale,  gathering  wisdom,  gra- 
ciousness,   love,   even   as   he   himself    in   this    life 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  295 

met  every  experience  half-way  and  counted  it  joy, 
knowing  that  experience  is  the  germ  of  power. 

Life  writes  its  history  upon  the  face,  so  that  all 
those  who  have  had  a  like  experience  read  and 
understand.  The  human  face  is  the  masterpiece  of 
God. 

A  Young  Man's  Religion  and  His  Father's  Faith 

N.  McGee  Waters 

This  selCftion  is  taken  from  a  volume  of  sermons  with  the  above 
title.  The  pulpit  eloquence  of  our  day  is  seen  at  its  best  in  these 
sermons.  Note  that  the  first  paragraph  is  simply  introductory  and 
should  be  so  indicated  by  the  delivery.  The  second  paragraph  begins 
the  discussion  proper. 

All  the  wisdom  of  any  age  is  sorely  needed  to 
understand  a  young  man's  religion  and  determine 
its  relation  to  his  father's  faith.  Both  the  man 
and  the  boy  should  pray  for  guidance.  Often  they 
fail  to  understand  one  another.  I  heard  an  old 
man  say,  "The  world  isn't  like  it  was  in  the  olden 
days.  People  do  not  go  to  church  like  they  used 
to.  People  do  not  read  their  Bible  like  they  used 
to.  The  church  does  not  have  revivals  like  it  used 
to.  People  do  not  get  converted  like  they  used  to. 
Joining  the  church  does  not  mean  what  it  used  to. 
Young  people  to-day  are  taught  all  sorts  of  strange 
notions  and  they  do  not  believe  things  we  used  to. 
It  is  an  age  of  worldliness  and  free-thinking.  Re- 
ligion is  at  ebb  tide.  The  church  is  going  to  decay. 
Our  young  people  have  lost  their  faith."  And  the 
old  man  was  sincere  and  he  was  sad. 

Now  both  the  old  man  and  the  young  one  are 
right,  and  both  are  wrong.     The  old  man  is  right 


296  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

when  he  thinks  the  young  man  lacking  in  respect. 
Irreverence  is  the  besetting  sin  of  youth.  The  old 
man  is  right  when  he  says  that  the  times  have 
changed,  and  the  customs  have  changed,  and  the 
creeds  have  changed,  only  we  have  changed  more 
than  he  dreams.  We  live  in  a  world  of  change. 
Every  generation  demands  a  new  and  larger  ex- 
pression. We  do  live  in  a  different  world  from 
that  in  which  our  fathers  lived. 

We  live  in  the  days  since  Martin  Luther.  For 
one  thousand  years  the  priests  had  kept  the  con- 
science of  every  man.  For  a  thousand  years  dark- 
ness had  rested  upon  the  earth.  Then  a  German 
priest,  heavy  hearted  with  the  ignorance  of  the 
people,  and  aflame  with  wrath  because  of  the  cor- 
ruption in  the  church  and  the  oppression  of  the 
priests,  put  a  trumpet  to  his  lips  and  blew  on  it 
such  a  blast  that  the  slumbering  masses  of  Europe 
were  awakened  as  from  a  dream.  That  day  the 
world  learned  that  religion  was  larger  than  men 
had  dreamed.  We  live  in  the  days  since  Copernicus 
and  Galileo.  One  of  them  discovered  a  truth  and 
was  afraid  to  publish  it  to  the  world ;  the  other 
one  published  that  truth  and  went  to  the  prison  and 
the  rack  for  his  deed.  That  day  we  found  out  that 
the  universe  was  a  thousand  times  larger  than  our 
fathers  had  dreamed. 

Other  scholars  came.  One,  a  little  while  ago,  was 
a  student  of  books,  and  lands,  and  seas.  He  read 
God's  handwriting  upon  the  rocks  and  stars.  Gath- 
ering up  bits  of  wisdom  from  field  and  mountain, 
mica-flake  and  ocean  ooze,  he  pieced  together  the 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  297 

great  story  of  God's  creation.     And  lo!  the  world 

was  not  made  in  a  week  and  man  in  a  moment,  but 

instead — 

"I  doubt  not  through  the  ages  an  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process 
of  the  suns." 

Evolution  is  a  larger  story  of  Divine  Providence 
than  any  of  the  fathers  dreamed. 

Other  scholars  came.  And  these  began  to  study 
the  Bible  and  lo !  instead  of  a  book,  a  library ;  in- 
stead of  a  proof  text,  a  literature;  instead  of  a 
dictation,  an  experience;  instead  of  a  typewriter  for 
an  inspired  man,  a  poet,  a  seer,  a  martyr.  And  the 
Bible  became  greater  and  grander  than  ever  before. 
Revelation  instead  of  being  a  tiny  lake,  crystal  in 
depth,  and  lost  amid  the  hills,  was  like  the  bound- 
less ocean,  thundering  on  all  shores  and  refreshing 
all  lands.  The  Bible  took  on  a  new  splendor  and 
a  new  dignity  that  day. 

The  Homeland 

Nehemiah  Boynton 

This  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  before  the  New 
England  Society,  New  York  City,  December,  191 1.  Note  the 
skillful  manner  in  which  the  theme  is  linked  with  the  opening 
illustrative  story.  Be  sure  that  your  hearers  get  the  point.  If 
well  delivered,  the  sentiment  and  language  of  this  selection  will 
make  a  strong  appeal  to  any  audience. 

Many  of  you  know  your  Wordsworth,  and  you 
doubtless  remember  the  pastor  and  the  little  com- 
pany out  in  the  open  in  Merry  England  that  looked 
up  the  road  and  saw  a  man  coming  along  driving 
a  brave  team  of  horses  that  were  drawing  a  load 


298  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

of  logs.  The  man  himself  was  in  the  evening  of 
his  life;  the  white  hair  was  curling  about  the  fore- 
head, but  there  was  the  ruddy  glow  of  health  upon 
his  cheek  and  the  splendid  magnificence  of  his 
stature,  which  never  had  been  bent  by  increasing 
years,  was  still  his.  He  was  a  man  who  looked,  so 
the  poet  said,  "as  if  he  were  in  the  possession  of 
freedom,  and  of  gaiety,  and  of  health";  "he  was 
a  man,"  so  the  poet  said,  "who  had  escaped  the 
fear  of  loss,  and  likewise  the  pride  of  having."  In- 
deed, as  he  pointed  to  him,  the  pastor  said,  "There 
goes  a  man  who  seems  to  be  a  man  of  cheerful 
yesterdays  and  of  confident  to-morrows."  That  is 
the  man  who  has  lived  over  and  over  again  in  real 
hfe  in  the  person  of  our  forbears,  who  were  four 
square  and  ambidextered  men  in  their  own  lives 
and  hearts,  and  especially  in  the  hearts  of  the  chil- 
dren who  have  come  after  them. 

And  so,  fellow  Americans,  it  is  because  of  these 
cheerful  yesterdays  which  rise  above  all  egotism 
and  all  pessimism,  because  of  these  confident  to- 
morrows, that  you  and  I  may  well  rejoice  that  it 
is  ours  to  live  beneath  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and 
may  turn  away  from  the  felicities  of  an  hour  like 
this  with  a  nobler  pulse  beat  in  our  hearts  and  a 
truer  purpose  in  our  souls  to  reproduce  in  our  day 
and  in  our  generation,  according  to  the  need  of 
the  times  in  which  we  live,  the  spirit — the  ideal,  the 
four  square  cliaracters — of  those  brave  men  of 
yesterday. 

Ah!  If  one  is  far  away  from  America  some- 
times the  recollection  of  the  beauty  and  the  true- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  299 

ness  of  the  homeland  comes  in  upon  him  with  over- 
powering influence.  Have  you  never  felt  it  your- 
self when  in  some  far  away  and  foreign  city,  per- 
haps, separated  from  your  friends,  you  have  thought 
of  the  conditions,  social,  political,  religious,  which 
were  about  you,  and  then,  as  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  have  thought  about  those  conditions  social, 
political  and  domestic,  which  are  yours  in  the  "land 
of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave?"  Do  you  not 
remember  how  your  heart  beat  with  a  great  pride 
on  the  one  hand,  and  a  great  longing  on  the  other  ? 
Why?  Because  you  do  believe  in  those  cheerful 
yesterdays  as  the  basis  on  which  shall  be  erected 
the  confident  to-morrows. 

One  who,  I  judge,  has  often  been  in  this  com- 
pany, and  very  likely  has  been  at  this  table,  had 
such  an  experience.  He  was  sitting  one  day  in  a 
hotel  in  London  when  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  his 
heart  would  break  if  he  could  not  take  a  steamship 
for  the  homeland  before  nightfall,  but  that  was  ab- 
solutely impossible;  and  so,  because  he  was  a  man 
whose  soul  sentiment,  compelled  by  its  throb,  took 
the  muse  of  song,  he  took  out  his  pad  and  pencil 
and  this  is  what  he  wrote : 

O !  London  is  a  fine  town, 
It  is  a  man's  town ; 

There  is  power  in  the  air. 
And  Paris  is  a  woman's  town, 

With  flowers  in  her  hair; 
And  it's  good  to  live  in  Venice, 

And  it's  fine  to  walk  in  Rome, 
But  when  you  talk  of  living, 

There's  no  place  like  home. 


300  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

And  it's  home  again,  home  again, 

America  for  me. 
My  heart  is  turning  home  again, 

To  my  own  country — 
To  the  blessed  land  of  room  enough, 

Beyond  the  ocean  bars, 
Where  the  air  is  filled  with  sunshine, 

And  the  flag  is  filled  with  stars. 


The  Mission  of  America 

Woodrow  Wilson 

This  is  an  extract  of  a  speech  delivered  before  the  Manhattan 
Club,  New  York  City,  November  4,  1915.  Problems  arising  out 
of  the  Great  War  in  Europe  are  reliected  in  the  first  paragraph. 
The  concluding  paragraph  contains  a  particularly  strong  appeal, 
requiring  deep  feeling  and  strong  force. 

The  mission  of  America  in  the  world  is  essen- 
tially a  mission  of  peace  and  good  will  among  men. 
She  has  become  the  home  and  asylum  of  men  of  all 
creeds  and  races.  Within  her  hospitable  borders 
they  have  found  homes  and  congenial  associations 
and  freedom  and  a  wide  and  cordial  welcome,  and 
they  have  become  part  of  the  bone  and  sinew  and 
spirit  of  America  itself.  America  has  been  made  up 
out  of  the  nations  of  the  world  and  is  the  friend  of 
the  nations  of  the  world.  America  has  not  opened 
its  doors  in  vain  to  the  men  and  women  out  of  other 
nations.  The  vast  majority  of  those  who  have  come 
to  take  advantage  of  her  hospitality  have  united 
their  spirits  with  hers  as  well  as  their  fortunes. 
These  men  who  speak  alien  sympathies,  who  raise 
the  cry  of  race  against  race  or  of  church  against 
church,  who  attempt  to  create  divisions  and  an- 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  301 

tagonisms  where  there  are  none, — such  men  are  not 
the  spokesmen  of  the  great  mass  of  Americans,  but 
the  spokesmen  of  small  groups  whom  it  is  high  time 
that  the  nation  should  call  to  a  reckoning.  The  chief 
thing  necessary  in  America  in  order  that  she  should 
let  all  the  world  know  that  she  is  prepared  to  main- 
tain her  own  great  position  is  that  the  real  voice  of 
the  nation  should  sound  forth  unmistakably  and  in 
majestic  volume,  in  the  deep  unison  of  a  common, 
unhesitating  national  feeling.  I  do  not  doubt  that 
upon  the  first  occasion,  upon  the  first  opportunity, 
upon  the  first  challenge,  that  voice  will  speak  forth 
in  tones  which  no  man  can  doubt  and  with  com- 
mands which  no  man  dare  gainsay  or  resist. 

Here  is  the  nation  God  has  builded  by  our  hands. 
What  shall  we  do  with  it  ?  Who  is  there  who  does 
not  stand  ready  at  all  times  to  act  in  her  behalf  in  a 
spirit  of  devoted  and  disinterested  patriotism?  We 
are  yet  only  in  the  youth  and  first  consciousness  of 
our  power.  The  day  of  our  country's  life  is  still 
but  in  its  fresh  morning.  Let  us  lift  our  eyes  to  the 
great  tracts  of  life  yet  to  be  conquered  in  the  inter- 
ests of  righteous  peace.  Come,  let  us  renew  our 
allegiance  to  America,  conserve  her  strength  in  its 
purity,  make  her  chief  among  those  who  serve 
mankind,  self -reverenced,  self -commanded,  mis- 
tress of  all  forces  of  quiet  counsel,  strong  above 
all  others  in  good  will  and  the  might  of  invincible 
justice  and  right. 


302  Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them 

Life's  Retrospect 

Clarence  N.  Oiisley 

This  is  the  concluding  part  of  an  address  of  the  graduating  classes 
of  the  University  of  Texas,  June,  1914.  Remember  the  occasion: 
the  final  words  to  college  graduates  about  to  take  up  the  duties  of 
life.  The  tone  is  one  of  sustained  seriousness.  The  last  para- 
graph, particularly,  should  be  charged  with  deep  emotion,  and  de- 
livered in  a  moderate  to  slow  rate,  so  that  the  feeling  may  have 
time  to  mature  and  to  find  expression. 

Let  me  at  this  time  repeat  the  old  and  everlasting 
truth,  that  no  man  liveth  to  himself  alone.  We  are 
in  a  world  of  complex  currents  which  make  us 
mutually  dependent.  We  cannot  thrive  but  by  the 
patronage  of  our  neighbors;  we  cannot  win  but  by 
their  confidence  and  favor,  which  we  cannot  hold 
if  we  do  not  serve  them  in  turn.  So  it  comes  to  the 
seeming  paradox  that  unselfishness,  after  all,  is  true 
self-interest,  for  it  is  not  only  the  means  of  success 
but  the  only  insurance  of  self-respect  without  which 
no  reward  is  worth  having. 

I  pity  the  man  of  fame  or  fortune  who  comes  to 
the  court  of  final  accounting  a  bankrupt  in  service 
to  his  fellows.  I  pity  him  because  he  has  missed  the 
sweetest  joy  of  living.  I  pity  him  as  he  stands  be- 
fore his  God  stripped  of  his  fine  raiment  and  self- 
conceit,  with  nothing  in  his  hands  but  the  itch  for 
gold  which  he  can  no  longer  clutch,  and  nothing  in 
his  heart  but  the  hunger  for  applause  which  he  can 
no  longer  hear. 

You  young  men  and  women  to-day  are  starting 
up  the  morning  slope  of  life,  and  I  envy  you  the 
journey.     It  is  a  beautiful  way,  for  you  are  facing 


Winning  Declamations-How  to  Speak  Them  303 

the  sun,  and  the  shadows  fall  behind  you.  It  is  a 
joyous  way,  even  though  there  be  stones  to  bruise 
your  feet  and  thorns  to  prick  your  hands,  for  hope 
makes  the  heart  sing  though  the  eyes  may  weep.  I 
wish  for  you  a  speedy  and  a  safe  ascent  to  the  crest 
of  high  achievement.  Presently,  before  you  are 
hardly  aware,  it  will  be  afternoon  and  you  will 
turn  downward  on  the  long  decline.  The  sun  will 
shine  behind  you,  the  shadows  will  fall  in  front  of 
you,  and  in  the  far  distance  of  the  faint  gray  rim 
of  time  you  will  perceive  the  mysterious  v.ood  that 
fringes  the  more  mysterious  stream  of  sleep  upon 
which  you  will  embark  for  another  land  that  lies 
be3'ond  the  shadow  and  the  mystery  and  the  silent 
river.  Let  me  hope  that  as  you  descend,  your  medi- 
tations will  be  disturbed  only  by  the  songs  of  those 
you  have  helped  up  the  morning  slope ;  that  as  you 
go  down  the  stumbling  way  of  decrepitude,  you  will 
be  steadied  by  strong  hands  that  have  felt  the  touch 
of  your  kindness ;  that  when  you  embark,  your  voy- 
age through  the  deep  waters  will  be  guided  by  the 
beacon  light  of  an  unwavering  faith,  and  that  when 
you  come  into  the  land  of  everlasting  sunshine  and 
unfading  flowers,  you  will  receive  the  welcome  of 
divine  fellowship  for  which  a  life  of  service  has 
made  you  somewhat  worthy. 


THIS  volume  contains  over  150  selections 
that  have  won  prizes  in  Speaking  Con- 
tests. Among  the  number  being  Clean  Poli- 
tics (Roosevelt),  The  Nation's  Need  of  Men 
(Jordan),  Lasca  (Despres),  The  Soul  of  the 
Violin  (Merrill),  Gunga  Din  (Kipling),  The 
Last  Hymn,  The  Vagabonds  (Trowbridge), 
The  Sermon  (Alcott),  Permanent  Peace  (Sa- 
retsky),  A  Second  Trial  (Kellogg),  The  Arena 
Scene  from  QuoVadis  (Sienkiewicz),  A  Hero 
of  the  Furnace  Room,  etc.  In  addition  to 
these  "prize  winners"  there  are  a  number  of 
excellent  Encore  Pieces,  mostly  humorous. 
382  pages.    Price 


LLOYD  ADAMS  NOBLE,  Publisher 
31  West  15th  Street,  New  York  City 


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